OK I just rescanned for channels. I get plenty of signal on all my channels but no picture. Could the broadcast tower be down or something. Forgive my ignorance but I am just baffled. Everything was working great just before noon and now nothing. I am going nuts trying to find the problem. I am not so sure it is on my end. All I did was add a rotor. Had the thing working perfect. Moved it a couple times lost picture but put it back to correct location and all was well. Tried moving to other location again but when I went back could not get picture again, but signal strength is there . I am defiantly pointing in the right direction. Went up on roof and checked things out and all looks fine. Any suggestions ?

Man I feel like a big dummy. I turned TV off and back on and something must have reset and all channels are back. Except for my original 13.1 & 13.2 which I guess is vhf so I will try a vhf antenna. Thanks for all your help and I apologize for being stupid.

My neighbor just inherited a 52" Sony projection TV that doesn't work.

He tested for continuity thoughout the circuit boards and checked for blown fuses. All was okay. He says the current stops at the on/off switch (which makes sense I guess) but the TV still will not turn on. Bad switch? FWIW its been in storage for about 3 years.

Can anyone recommend a good Sony repair person or troubleshooter that makes house calls? If not, then where to take it.

Michael2468, are you getting full HD out of Albany? What is your approximate location in NA. I am in Hancock near Jiminy Peak and figured there is no way to get HD here. This is an interesting development I figured no HD for a while yet here. I only get 6 SD OTA here with a large rooftop antenna.

Dave

Davird_Jr I am located on East Main Street about 3/4 of a mile from the downtown main street. I have a DB8 UHF antenna mounted on my rooftop and I am receiving HD perfect. Not all channels are HD others are digital. 6.1 HD, 10.1 HD , 17.1 HD 17.3 HD 19.1 HD these are all I get so far in HD. I also get 6.2, 6.3, 10.2, 19.2, 23 anolog , 38 analog, 45 analog. 45 is snowy but watchable. I sometimes get 13.1 & 13.2 but I am told they are VHF. I only seem to get them under certain weather conditions. I am going to put up a VHF antenna and see if I can get them in.

Davird_JR, I failed to tell you that I purchased my DB8 UHF only antenna from antennas.com. I started out with the DB4 which worked just fine, but I was interested to see what the DB8 would do. It performs no better that the DB4. I also added a pre amp from radio shack which did nothing for me other that clearing up 23 fox analog and slightly clearing up 45 UPN analog. Also added a rotor which is really useless unless I get a VHF antenna to move around. Once you lock the UHF antenna in there is no need to move it. I tried to point toward Springfield but was unsuccessful in getting over the mountain from my location. Any other info you might need let me know. I plan on trying a few more things and will let you know the results.

Michael, Are the Albany HD channels repeated on Greylock? Otherwise how dp you get them? You are staring Greylock right in the face are you not? Forgive my ignorance here, but if I understand right you are getting CBS & ABC in full HD (1080i & 720p), but you are not getting NBC in HD? Is there a way to test to see if I get the signal here without a tuner? I have not upgraded to an HDTV because I didn't expect to get HD OTA & my understanding is that the Berkshire sister channels are 480i or 480p only. Thanks for your replies.

Originally posted by Davird_Jr
Is there a way to test to see if I get the signal here without a tuner? I have not upgraded to an HDTV because I didn't expect to get HD OTA.

No. I would suggest buying an OTA-HD Tuner from a store with a forgiving return policy or borrowing one for a day from a friend. Set the output to 480i and use Composite Out or S-Video Out to test on your existing analog TV. If you can get the digital channels they will be downconverted, but you will know if you can get them or not. If you do not get anything, return the tuner.

Davird, I am pointing at Albany Schenectady area aprox azimuth from my location is 260 degrees. Iam in the process of installing a VHF antenna to get 13.1 & 13.2 hopefully. I can't do it tonight because of too much wind. Will let you know when I get it up.

Davird, I saw HD set top boxes in Pittsfield Wal Mart for under 200. They have an execellent return policy.

OK I got brave and went up on the roof in this wind and got everything hooked up. I broke every rule in the book with my hookup but it still works like a charm. I get 6.1 6.2 6.3 10 10.1 10.2 13 13.1 13.2 17 17.1 17.3 19 19.1 19.2 23 38 45 All using a direct TV boot for the mast holder. Then I mounted a Radio Shack rotor, then a 48" piece of 1 1/4" conduit then mounted a DB8 from antennaweb.org then a 1 1/4" conduit coupling on top with a 12" piece of 1 1/4" conduit and then mounted the VHF antenna from Home Depot., coupled everything together with a digital two way splitter into a Radio Shack pre amp and out to the TV which has a built in HDTV tuner. All is working great so far.

Thanks guys.

iS ANYBODY ACTUALLY ABLE TO WATCH THE wb IN hd? when ARE THEY PLANNING TO GO full strength. Is anybody able to see the Mets games in HD on the WB?

thanks,
Paul

I get WEWB-DT just fine on both of my digital OTA tuners. I don't think they show the mets games in hd.

Edit: I just checked for you right now. The WB11 coverage they are showing on WEWB-DT is NOT in HD.

thanks for checking. At the beginning of the broadcast, the announcers said it is being broadcast in HD. Any idea when the local affiliate will start picking it up? Is WB now transmitting at full strength? I didn't get it on my last channel scan 2 weeks ago.

Paul

Not sure about the power level, I don't think it has changed. WEWB's Master Control is actually in Boston. The Boston WB affiliate would have to receive it in HD from the NYC affiliate in order to pass it on to us. I don't think that the Boston affiliate actually airs the NYC coverage in Boston. Knowing that WEWB is OTA only and low-power at that, Tribune probably chose not to invest in setting up the infastructure to provide WPIX in HD to WEWB this season.

Originally posted by Paul B. Musser
iS ANYBODY ACTUALLY ABLE TO WATCH THE wb IN hd? when ARE THEY PLANNING TO GO full strength. Is anybody able to see the Mets games in HD on the WB?

thanks,
Paul
From the WEWB Chief Engineer's Forum:

Posted by CliftonMets on 1/13/05:
Any update on when power will be increased on ch 43? I would love to see Mets games with better picture quality as opposed to ch 15 on TWC. And while were on the subject, any chance of Games in HD being rebroadcasted on the digital channel?

Reply by WEWB Chief Engineer Franco LaPietra on 1/14/05:
Hi and thanks for your questions:

1. No idea at this time when our autorization for full power will be approved by the FCC. We are at their mercy but expect that there will be some movement within the next few months.

2. The Mets telecasts are received from our sister station WPIX in NYC. At this time we are discussing the possiblility of delivering them in HD, but no decision has been made. Feel free to check back with me as we get closer to spring.

Posted by Skaggs on 3/10/05:
How about an update about the increase in power and the possibility of Mets in HD? Since the dispute with TWC has pulled most of the games from the cable outlet, it would be a real treat to have the games in HD via OTA.

Reply by WEWB Chief Engineer Franco LaPietra on 3/10/05:
Sorry to report that there is nothing to report......

The FCC has yet to act on our full power authorization. At this point I am reluctant to speculate on when they might act. We are truly a victim of the system and have no control over the process

Also, there are no plans to broadcast the Met's games in HD at this time.

Originally posted by Paul B. Musser
iS ANYBODY ACTUALLY ABLE TO WATCH THE wb IN hd? when ARE THEY PLANNING TO GO full strength. Is anybody able to see the Mets games in HD on the WB?

thanks,
Paul
I'm getting it reliably near Albany with a 4-bay bowtie in the attic. When I first set up I thought they weren't broadcasting because I got the others without much effort, but carefully positioning the bowtie got me enough signal to work with.

Although it's usually solid to watch, if I record it with an LG LST-3410A the playback pixelates and audio drops out every 5-6 seconds. I don't mean on average; this is a dependable cycle. This doesn't happen when watching or recording with a MyHD MDP-120, or with the LG on any other channel, including WXXA on cable. Apparently there's something nonstandard about the transmission that the MyHD can handle but the LG can't. I've read that early MyHD software couldn't deal with nonstandard Fox broadcasts but the current version can. Maybe that's why it works with WEWB.

Did anyone notice that the quality of todays yankee game on WXXA was bad?

Originally posted by cliftonmets
Did anyone notice that the quality of todays yankee game on WXXA was bad?
I cannot speak for picture quality however;

To some WXXA is bad news regarding baseball,nascar,sporting events,etc.

These people were speculating OTA broadcasts last summer and then again last January and still havent accomplished anything. :(

FCC?... nobody else had this problem. incompetence maybe?

No one else had issues like WXXA because no one else attempted to move their digital rf assignment. WXXA applied to move their signal to a channel with less interference, which will ultimately give OTA viewers an easier time of locking in a signal. After the FCC finally granted that re-assignment, stations in surrounding markets already broadcasting in analog on the new frequency filed an appeal. I'm not saying that Clear Channel-owned WXXA has done everything possible to expedite the situation, but I would have to say it's mostly not their fault, nor much the FCC's fault. The primary "flaming" should be directed at the stations on channel 7 in NYC and Watertown for filing what I felt was a rather ridiculous appeal.

Originally posted by MasterFX1
WXXA applied to move their signal to a channel with less interference, which will ultimately give OTA viewers an easier time of locking in a signal. After the FCC finally granted that re-assignment, stations in surrounding markets already broadcasting in analog on the new frequency filed an appeal. The primary "flaming" should be directed at the stations on channel 7 in NYC and Watertown for filing what I felt was a rather ridiculous appeal.

There's another consideration for WABC in New York City and WWNY in Watertown, both of them intend to revert to channel 7 after the DTV transition. This means that in the long run, the FCC needs to consider the interference to the DTV coverage of those stations, not the current interference to the analog signals. Clear Channel could ask for less power to avoid such interference, but has not done so. I don't know if Clear Channel couldn't or hasn't applied for temporary authority without a CP. WEWB did so, and is on the air with 1300 watts ERP.

so...

Does broadcasting on the VHF band have an advantage over UHF?

Originally posted by BreakStuff
so...

Does broadcasting on the VHF band have an advantage over UHF?

The advantages to VHF are;

Better coverage beyond obstructions such as hills.
Better long distance coverage even in flat terrain.
Lower transmitter power....lower electricity bills.
No expensive high power tubes to replace.
Cheaper transmitter capital investment.
Stronger signals into indoor antennas.

The disadvantages are;

Larger receive antennas for the home viewer.
Set-top antennas can't be directional.
Greater chance for interference from nearby stations.
More noise such as power line leakage or lightning.

Conclusioins;

If you're close to the transmitter UHF is better, but the advantage is small.
If you're far away, VHF is much better.
In hilly terrain such as Albany, maximum coverage at the fringes is a bigger deal than interference so VHF wins out.

Thanks Tower Guy.

Very valid question BreakStuff.

In the long-term: If WXXA chose to stay with the advantageous rf7, rather than go back to rf23, there could be some significant coverage/viewer changes.

Those of you not able to regularly view NY Mets games on FSNY will be happy to know that t'nites Mets/Braves game will be broadcast on ESPN in HD!

Go Mets!

Dohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I see this now, having turned the radio off at games end. Was it actually on?

Paul

Originally posted by Paul B. Musser
Dohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I see this now, having turned the radio off at games end. Was it actually on?
I watched the first 5 innings on ESPN, but then I switched to FSNY to see if they were also broacasting the game, they were and thats when the Mets scored all the runs so I kept watching on FSNY because I'm superstitious like that. :p

Originally posted by Paul B. Musser
Dohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I see this now, having turned the radio off at games end. Was it actually on?

Paul

Nope. Just a blank screen.

I'm guessing Breakstuff has DTV and cliftonmets (like me) has TW.

Oh well.

Paul

I am a DTV subscriber so please excuse me for any wrong comments.

I didnt think that TW would have to shut off the ESPN game due to the failed negotiations with Cablevision regarding MSG and FSNY. Does Cablevision have that much power concerning NY Mets broadcasts?

Does this also mean that the game tommorow afternoon will be blacked out on TBS?

Not only does TW black out the ESPN games, they also (I believe) black out the Mets games from the MLB Extra Inning packages. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I would think and hope that the TBS game would be on, but that is a guess. Unfortunately, I'm at a conference tomorrow and won't be able to watch.

Paul

I didnt happen to catch whether or not TW blacked out TBS for the Mets games the last couple days... did they?

Originally posted by Paul B. Musser
I'm guessing Breakstuff has DTV and cliftonmets (like me) has TW.

Oh well.

Paul your theater kicks @ss!!! what do you charge for admission? :D

I have D* and there was NO Atlanta vs Mets games on TBS on Monday or Tuesday..I'm not sure about Weds. afternoon game...

It's Official - VOOM ON DISH NETWORK!

DISH Network Expands High-Definition Package with Addition of VOOM Programming
Friday April 29, 8:07 am ET
Lineup Will Include 10 Original VOOM HD Channels

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 29, 2005--EchoStar Communications Corporation (Nasdaq: DISH - News) announced that its DISH Network(TM) satellite TV service will expand its high-definition television (HDTV) package by adding 10 original VOOM HD networks, expected to be available May 1, 2005. With the addition of these originals to its current slate of HD programming, DISH Network further establishes itself as the leader in high-definition TV.

The 10 VOOM HD networks will include RUSH HD, Gallery HD, Rave HD, Ultra HD, Equator HD, Monsters HD, Animania HD, Majestic HD, HD News and Guy TV HD. These networks will give viewers a high-def experience in such entertainment categories as science fiction, fashion, travel, music concerts and more.

"The addition of these original channels makes the DISH Network high definition package the best in the pay-TV industry," said Eric Sahl, vice president of programming for EchoStar. "With programming offering the finest clarity and resolution, customers enjoy a better TV watching experience."

Customers can sign a one-year agreement and receive six free months of HD programming with high-definition receivers in up to two rooms at no charge. For a limited time, those who sign up can also receive more than 180 standard definition channels for only $19.99 a month for the first three months, plus a free DVR upgrade, with next-day installation.

For more information on DISH Network, visit www.dishnetwork.com , call 1-800-333-DISH (3474), or contact your local DISH Network retailer. For downloadable, print quality images of DISH Network equipment, installations or the DISH Network logo, visit www.dishnetwork.com/content/aboutus/presskit/print/index.shtml .

About EchoStar

EchoStar Communications Corporation (NasdaqISH - News) serves more than 11 million satellite TV customers through its DISH Network(TM), the fastest growing U.S. provider of advanced digital television services in the last five years. DISH Network offers hundreds of video and audio channels, Interactive TV, HDTV, sports and international programming, together with professional installation and 24-hour customer service. DISH Network ranks No. 1 in Customer Satisfaction among Cable/Satellite TV Subscribers by J.D. Power and Associates. Visit EchoStar's DISH Network at www.dishnetwork.com or call 1-800-333-DISH (3474).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact:
EchoStar Communications Corporation
Mark Cicero, 720-514-5065
mark.cicero@echostar.com

Glad to hear about the VOOM stations.

Guess this means that TW is really lagging in HD channels now (no BravoHD or whatever it's called, among others)

Maybe it IS time to switch to DISH?

Originally posted by m_jonis
Maybe it IS time to switch to DISH?
I bet I know what provider MasterFX1 is changing too :)
This will definately make DISH Network numero uno in the HDTV department, but still not so good in the availabilty of professional sports.

I wish DTV got a piece of that action. :( oh well

I don't know, DISH is apparently making special offers to VOOM customers starting Sunday. Despite this, I believe when you add it all up, I would still be asked to pay a good bit more for a lot less HD than I have (for the next 24 hours).

I am not going to let the lack of good options "Hold a gun to my head." I am pretty sure that VOOM channels will start showing up on TWC and D* in the not-to-distant future. With the exception of a very expensive C-Band type investment, No Capital Region viewer can subscribe to a service offering the 3 channels I want most: Starz-HD, Max-HD and TMC-HD. (I would also obviously expect HBO-HD and SHO-HD.) And until these show up somewhere, I think I might just save a little money and "Rough it" with just network HD via OTA.

Remember, I am a self-proclaimed HD snob. For me, I guess I am looking for a cost that is $3/HD channel or less when you add up the total cost of the service and divide by the number of HD channels I would receive. (Locals don't count, I already have OTA.) VOOM was less than $2.50 per HD channel.

If I could get all 10 HD channels on TWC for $30/mo (Including taxes, fees, stb, remote, etc.) I think I would do it. If TWC had their existing 10, plus those 3 I am looking for $39/mo, I would do it in a heartbeat.

DISH might be willing to let me subscribe to just the HD channels. I am very interested to see if they will and at what price.

IS WXXA-DT(chan 23) estimate for being up and running still Sept 2005?

Originally posted by barbie845
IS WXXA-DT(chan 23) estimate for being up and running still Sept 2005?

Your guess is as good as mine. The hold-up is on the FCC's end, and WXXA's Chief Engineer feels that everytime he inquires about it, the FCC moves his paperwork to the bottom of the pile.

DISH will more than likely let you sign up for their HD package.

However, in order to get SHO and HBO HD you will have to sub to the HBO and SHO package (this apparently is stipulated in the HBO and SHO contracts that they make the providers sign).

In the past, I was able to sub to "just" their HD tier (okay, I also had to sub to HBO and SHO to get those channels). But that was a while ago. then their promo ended and they refused to price match TW so I switched to TW.

Good luck and let us know what DISH tells you.

Originally posted by MasterFX1
I don't know, DISH is apparently making special offers to VOOM customers starting Sunday. Despite this, I believe when you add it all up, I would still be asked to pay a good bit more for a lot less HD than I have (for the next 24 hours).

I am not going to let the lack of good options "Hold a gun to my head." I am pretty sure that VOOM channels will start showing up on TWC and D* in the not-to-distant future. With the exception of a very expensive C-Band type investment, No Capital Region viewer can subscribe to a service offering the 3 channels I want most: Starz-HD, Max-HD and TMC-HD. (I would also obviously expect HBO-HD and SHO-HD.) And until these show up somewhere, I think I might just save a little money and "Rough it" with just network HD via OTA.

Remember, I am a self-proclaimed HD snob. For me, I guess I am looking for a cost that is $3/HD channel or less when you add up the total cost of the service and divide by the number of HD channels I would receive. (Locals don't count, I already have OTA.) VOOM was less than $2.50 per HD channel.

If I could get all 10 HD channels on TWC for $30/mo (Including taxes, fees, stb, remote, etc.) I think I would do it. If TWC had their existing 10, plus those 3 I am looking for $39/mo, I would do it in a heartbeat.

DISH might be willing to let me subscribe to just the HD channels. I am very interested to see if they will and at what price.

DISH will let me subscribe to the HD pak, VOOM pak, HBO pak and SHO pak for a total of $45.97/mo. The only SD channels I would receive would be the ones included with HBO and SHO. 17 HD channels in total... about $2.70/HD channel. That alone is high, but acceptable.

The hardware is whole other story. The cheapest option is eBay and self-install. But it would still not be that cheap. You need two dishes, because the VOOM pak is not located on the same satellite location as the HD Pak, HBO and SHO. Plus, the cheaper hardware will soon be useless when they upgrade to mpeg4.

If you agree to add the top 60 pak and commit to a year or more, there's deals on new hardware.

Other than a 3 month honeymoon with the top 180 pak, DISH is not offering VOOM subscribers anything more than the General Public.

All in all, without Starz-HD, Max-HD and TMC-HD I am simply unmotivated to hurdle hardware and/or SD programming costs to subscribe to any service at this time. OTA-HD will serve my viewing needs for now. (Of course, with football season this fall I will be praying the FCC/WXXA thing moves along.)

OK Master..Thx for the update..

Did you try allsat?

They used to have pretty good deals on gear and equipment. I'd gotten their DISH 6000 HD unit for $300 (granted, I had to sub for a year, but they had the "I like 9 promo then so it was only $9/month for their $30/month package).

Does anyone care to guess if we will experience that annoying popping audio problem during WTENs broadcast of "Lost" tonight?

Originally posted by optivity
Does anyone care to guess if we will experience that annoying popping audio problem during WTENs broadcast of "Lost" tonight?

I DVR'D it last night and will watch at a later date. Was there "popping" on last nights LOST? I sure hope not.

I only observed popping for a few seconds about half way thru.

P

Originally posted by Paul B. Musser
I only observed popping for a few seconds about half way thru.

Likewise.

Same here... Only (1) BIG pop about half-way through "Lost." Maybe the technicians at WTEN wanted to be sure we were awake?:D

During last night's episode of Lost (5/11) on WTEN-HD I experienced no audio problem. However, there were intermittent picture freeze-ups that were resolved by switching from the HD feed to the SD channel and then back. My assumption is this was caused by TWCs delivery of the HD signal using an SA8300HD-DVR through the HDMI interface. Did anyone else experience problems similar to this?

Originally posted by optivity
During last night's episode of Lost (5/11) on WTEN-HD I experienced no audio problem. However, there were intermittent picture freeze-ups that were resolved by switching from the HD feed to the SD channel and then back. My assumption is this was caused by TWCs delivery of the HD signal using an SA8300HD-DVR through the HDMI interface. Did anyone else experience problems similar to this?

I had the exact same experience on the HD OTA feed. So it's not TWC's fault.

METS back on TWC!

I stumbled across tonight's Mets game on Sports Channel on TWC (26). MSG appears to be on 73 again as well. I wonder it there is any chance we could see an HD channel for the mets this year. Probably not.

Paul

MasterFX1 -

Any chance of seeing HD broadcasting on the local UPN feed in the near future?

Probably not anytime soon. The UPN coverage on 6-2 will likely never be in HD unless they go to MPEG4 (In which case you'll need a new OTA receiver.)

The original intention was for analog 51 to one-day become digital 51 (no cross-over transition, just an overnight change from analog to digital.) However, with the likely vacancy on rf4 (since WXXA should eventually land on rf7) WNYA will seek to get that as digital assignment.

So the short answer is: No time soon... And with ST: Enterprise now completely cancelled, there is nothing too compelling on UPN offered in HD for technophiles.

A ? regarding Albany Time Warner & CableCARD. I recently had a CableCARD installed in my DTV. The TV has a digital audio optical out interface, which I have connected to the audio optical input of my DD 5.1 receiver. Analogue sound output to the receiver works fine but as soon as it determines the incoming audio signal is DD the sound is disabled. I called TW regarding this problem and received an unhelpful response... "this feature is not supported."

Does TW believe it makes sense to provide 720p/1080i using a CC but no DD 5.1? What's it going to take to enable this audio signal to get passed to my receiver...?

To express my displeasure... I dropped $50/mo. worth of programming services yesterday and believe I will switch to DSL for Internet access in the near future.

TW... are you listening? If you want people to pay BIG $$$ for 'digital service,' provide the audio too!

A ? regarding Albany Time Warner & CableCARD. I recently had a CableCARD installed in my DTV. The TV has a digital audio optical out interface, which I have connected to the audio optical input of my DD 5.1 receiver. Analogue sound output to the receiver works fine but as soon as it determines the incoming audio signal is DD the sound is disabled. I called TW regarding this problem and received an unhelpful response... "this feature is not supported."

Check to see if your TV's settings menu has an option to turn on/off digital output.

Check to see if your TV's settings menu has an option to turn on/off digital output.There is no on/off setting for the optical digital out with this TV. There is only one optical digital audio out connection from the TV to the receiver. Some excerpts from the manual:

"Amplifier Connection (TO AUDIO AMP)

Procedure
1. Select Speakers “Off” in Audio menu (see page 27).
2. Adjust the amplifier volume to the desired level.

Notes:
• Depending on your DVD player and DVD-Audio software the copyright protection function may operate and disable
optical output.
• External speakers cannot be connected directly to OUTPUT terminals.
• When ATSC channel is selected; the output from the DIGITAL AUDIO OUT jack will be Dolby Digital. When NTSC
channel is selected, the output will be PCM.

Connection Terminals: DIGITAL AUDIO OUT PCM / Dolby Digital, Fiber Optic"

PCM passes through the audio optical connection but when the signal is NTSC I see the front panel of the receiver switch to "Pro Logic" mode and then the sound is disabled."

Why can Albany Time Warner Cable pass PCM but not DD audio through the optical interface when using a CableCARD, and deliver both audio signals through the RCA digital audio output of their HD STBs?

Why can Albany Time Warner Cable pass PCM but not DD audio through the optical interface when using a CableCARD, and deliver both audio signals through the RCA digital audio output of their HD STBs?

I have had a CableCARD for almost a year, (my exploits are documented here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=4832592#post4832592 ) and the lack of technical support you've found is mostly due to ignorance of the CSRs (and often their supervisors, although the head-end techs are more knowledgeable). The CableCARD itself has little to do with the ability to pass/reject DD audio. Its job is merely to map the channels a la STB and decode encrypted channels.

I would recommend you look at your audio receiver input settings. On some units the optical input can be set to a fixed format (PCM, DD, or even DTS for DVDs) in case there are problems with auto-sensing.

Of course, there also could be a bug in the TV's firmware.

This was originally posted by someone in an other forum here on AVS. Thought it was kinda funny:

How to complain:

Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2005 9:30 AM
Subject: The Brits really know how to complain

We are not the only ones who get poor service from their ISP, cable and/or alarm companies. (NTL is a cable operator in Britain).

The Brits probably write the world's best letters of complaint.

Dear Cretins:

I have been an NTL customer since 9th July 2001, when I signed up for your four-in-one deal for cable TV, cable modem, telephone, and alarm monitoring. During this three-month period I have encountered inadequacy of service which I had not previously considered possible, as well as ignorance and stupidity of monolithic proportions.

Please allow me to provide specific details, so that you can either pursue your professional prerogative and seek to rectify these difficulties or more likely (I suspect) so that you can have some entertaining reading material as you while away the working day smoking B&H and drinking vendor-coffee on the bog in your office.

My initial installation was cancelled without warning, resulting in my spending an entire Saturday sitting on my fat arse waiting for your technician to arrive. When he did not arrive, I spent a further 57 minutes listening to your infuriating hold music, and the even more annoying Scottish robot woman telling me to look at your helpful website. HOW? I alleviated the boredom by playing with my testicles for a few minutes an activity at which you are no doubt both familiar and highly adept. The rescheduled installation then took place some two weeks later, although the technician did forget to bring a number of vital tools -- such as a drill-bit, and his cerebrum.

Two weeks later, my cable modem had still not arrived. After 15 telephone > > calls over four weeks my modem arrived, six weeks after I had requested it and begun to pay for it. I estimate your internet server's downtime is roughly 35% -the hours between about 6pm and midnight, Monday through Friday, and most of the weekend. I am still waiting for my telephone connection.

I have made nine calls on my mobile to your no-help line, and have been unhelpfully transferred to a variety of disinterested individuals who are, it seems, also highly skilled bollock jugglers.

I have been informed that a telephone line is available (and someone will call me back); that I will be transferred to someone who knows whether or not a telephone line is available (and then been cut off); that I will be transferred to someone (and then been redirected to an answering machine informing me that your office is closed); that I will be transferred to someone and then been redirected to the irritating Scottish robot woman. And several other variations on this theme.

Doubtless you are no longer reading this letter, as you have at least a thousand other dissatisfied customers to ignore, and also another one of those crucially important testicle moments to attend to. Frankly I don't care. It's far more satisfying as a customer to voice my frustrations in print than to shout them at your unending hold music.

Forgive me, therefore, if I continue, I thought British Telecom was ****; that they had attained the holy piss-pot of god-awful customer relations; and that no one, anywhere, ever, could be more disinterested, less helpful or more obstructive to delivering service to their customers.

That's why I chose NTL, and because, well, there isn't anyone else is there?

How surprised I therefore was, when I discovered to my considerable dissatisfaction and disappointment what a useless shower of bastards you truly are. You are sputum-filled pieces of distended rectum incompetents of the highest order. BT -- wankers though they are -- shine like brilliant beacons of success in the filthy mire of your seemingly limitless inadequacy.

Suffice to say that I have now given up on my futile and foolhardy quest to receive any kind of service from you. I suggest that you cease any potential future attempts to extort payment from me for the services which you have so pointedly and catastrophically failed to deliver. Any such activity will be greeted initially with hilarity and disbelief and will quickly be replaced by derision, and even perhaps bemused rage.

I enclose two small deposits, selected with great care from my cat's litter tray, as an expression of my utter and complete contempt for both you and your pointless company. I sincerely hope that they have not become desiccated during transit -- they were satisfyingly moist at the time of posting, and I would feel considerable disappointment if you did not experience both their rich aroma and delicate texture. Consider them the very embodiment of my feelings towards NTL, and its worthless employees.

Have a nice day.

May it be the last in your miserable short lives, you irritatingly incompetent and infuriatingly unhelpful bunch of twits.

May you rot in Hell,

Robert Stokes

I have had a CableCARD for almost a year, (my exploits are documented here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=4832592#post4832592 ) and the lack of technical support you've found is mostly due to ignorance of the CSRs (and often their supervisors, although the head-end techs are more knowledgeable). The CableCARD itself has little to do with the ability to pass/reject DD audio. Its job is merely to map the channels a la STB and decode encrypted channels.

I would recommend you look at your audio receiver input settings. On some units the optical input can be set to a fixed format (PCM, DD, or even DTS for DVDs) in case there are problems with auto-sensing.

Of course, there also could be a bug in the TV's firmware.Thanks for your response. I'm under the impression Time Warner has set the CCI bit to: Copy Never. This disables digital output for any digital interface (in my case the optical audio) on the host node. Of course I can't get any 'qualified' support for this issue from Time Warner. My 1st response has been to cancel $50/mo. worth of programming service. I'm now considering switching to DSL for Internet access; and hope to drop Time Warner completely after I find another source for program entertainment.

WRGB has made some "Behind-the-scenes" upgrades to their OTA setup.

1. WRGB has installed and tested a back-up DTV antenna. It is the directional antenna that they had used on their analog tower at 1620’ above sea level from July-December 2003. It is mounted at 225’ up the Community tower at 2005’ above sea level. The ERP is 120 KW using the full power of the solid state transmitter.

2. WRGB is about to turn on a new high power transmitter. The system is rated at 600 KW. If all goes well, Monday June 20th should be the day. It is a new high efficiency design. WRGB will remain at 600 KW on rf-channel 39 until they revert to channel 6 after analog goes away.

Clearly, WRGB continues to lead the local HDTV transition.

From the WXXA website

WXXA Digital
Status of WXXA-DT as of 6/16/05

1- The FCC has assigned channel 7 as a DTV channel for Albany, NY. This assignment was challenged by broadcast stations in New York City and Watertown, NY. The FCC has dismissed the requests for reconsideration that had been filed against the commission decision to award channel 7 to Albany, NY.

2- WXXA-TV has submitted a construction permit application to operate on channel 7 at a power level of 10 kilowatts effective radiated power.

3- The approximate air date for WXXA-DT will be 120 days after the FCC approves our construction permit application.

4- WXXA-TV currently feeds a HD feed via fiber to Time Warner Cable where it is carried on channel 1808.

Any help regarding this issue... please respond.

Here is what I'm working with:

Albany Time Warner Digital Cable Subscriber

channel line-up of interest (1800 digital tier):

http://home.nycap.rr.com/nessus/ATW_channel.JPG

TH-50PX50U with optical digital audio output, SA PowerKEY Model PKM600 CableCARD, Onkyo TX-SR600 Receiver. I'm receiving Dolby Digital sound on channels 1806 - 1813 and ESPN-HD channel 1869 but only PCM sound on channels 1827 - 1867.

I'm under the impression that CCI is being passed differently on channels 1827 - 1867 which disables the TVs optical digital interface.

At this point I'm not inclined to consider CCI to be the culprit. I'm getting DD with the 1200 digital tier and channels: 1801 - 1813. DD drops out and switches to PCM audio for channels 1827 - 1867 and then I get DD on ESPN-HD channel 1869. So I'm very confused! :confused:

I'm under the impression that CCI is being passed differently on channels 1827 - 1867 which disables the TVs optical digital interface.

When I first looked at the CCI byte with the diagnostic screens on my TV, I only sampled a couple of the local broadcast and HD Tier channels and it seemed that all of the non-broadcast HDTV channels had a CCI byte value of 0x02. Since you mentioned ESPN-HD, I went back and double-checked all of the channels in the 1800 range and find that the CCI byte for 1869 is currently 0 (the same as the local stations) and all the others are 2.

I now believe you are definitely on to something with the CCI byte value.

Thanks for your response, I'll have to take a closer look at the diagnostic information my TV provides for CableCARD. I'm not sure if the diags reported vary by channel?

Time Warner contacted me last Friday and implied there may be some additional engineering required for their SA PowerKEYs to enable DD sound over the optical interface of my TV.

We'll see what (if anything) changes with their next firmware release.

The good news is... my PDP renders an excellent picture with the CableCARD, and I can generate a fake surround home theater effect when the incoming audio signal is PCM. In addition, I'm saving $50 per month by not using Albany Time Warner's HD-DVR or subscribing to their 700s digital tier.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CableLabs published 'this list' (http://www.cablelabs.com/udcp/downloads/OC_PNP.pdf) of certified, verified and self-verified unidirectional cable products on 6/20/05. Past generation PDPs manufactured by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. are certified so I doubt the current self-certified PX50Us are to blame. Most likely there is a response time-out occurring between the host CCI descrambling request being sent to the CableCARD and the authentication response; or perhaps the CCI_auth/CCI_value returned do not match and the CCI_ack is set to failure. The end-result is no digital sound output.

Most likely it is a head-end/SA PowerKEY problem with Albany Time Warner

For the first time ever I had a signal on 45.1 last night. My signal is usually in the low area of BAD(10-30%) on my SAT300 and I get no picture at all. Last night around 11:00 I had a picture and when I checked the signal meter it was way up in the GOOD section (probably around 90%). I figured that they had finally upped their signal power but today I am picking up no signal at all?

I have had wierd WB reception lately as well.... It went off the air for a few days, then came back, but for me, it was with worse signal. As of right now, I have no signal at all.

I would assume things are being "worked" on.

Same here for 45-1, no signal for past few days. Does anyone know what's going on?

45-1 has returned today with what appears to be full signal strength. I show them at 81% signal strength on MyHD and about 90% on my STB. Thank You WEWB!

When I first looked at the CCI byte with the diagnostic screens on my TV, I only sampled a couple of the local broadcast and HD Tier channels and it seemed that all of the non-broadcast HDTV channels had a CCI byte value of 0x02. Since you mentioned ESPN-HD, I went back and double-checked all of the channels in the 1800 range and find that the CCI byte for 1869 is currently 0 (the same as the local stations) and all the others are 2.

I now believe you are definitely on to something with the CCI byte value.I can verify the same information regarding CCI. For example on TNT-HD:

http://home.nycap.rr.com/nessus/DSC01223.JPG

and for ESPN-HD

http://home.nycap.rr.com/nessus/DSC01222.JPG

45-1 has returned today with what appears to be full signal strength. I show them at 81% signal strength on MyHD and about 90% on my STB. Thank You WEWB!


Im getting it with 8/10 bars here in southern Saratoga. Bout time.

anyone notice the sound being off on wewb-dt during the game?

Well... I discovered I've lost DD sound on ESPN-HD today. Albany Time Warner modified the CCI Byte value and changed it from 0x00 to 0x02, which disables the optical digital audio output from my TV to my receiver. Thanks Time Warner for your service of this digital subscriber. Someday if/when Verizon gets their FIOS network up and running in my area... I'll be sure to remember what a great job you're doing.

anyone notice the sound being off on wewb-dt during the game?

Sorry you had this problem. I just checked our off-air and lip sync appears to be normal. Was the problem only during the game?

Well... I discovered I've lost DD sound on ESPN-HD today. Albany Time Warner modified the CCI Byte value and changed it from 0x00 to 0x02, which disables the optical digital audio output from my TV to my receiver. Thanks Time Warner for your service of this digital subscriber. Someday if/when Verizon gets their FIOS network up and running in my area... I'll be sure to remember what a great job you're doing.


I didn't get last nights Yanks/Mets game on ESPN-HD in Dolby. However, I still get INHD, HDNET, and DiscoveryHD in Dolby Digital. Did we ever get ESPN-HD in Dolby? I don't remember yes or no.

Tim

Im getting it with 8/10 bars here in southern Saratoga. Bout time.

Thank you all for your patience. We were off the air early last week while we re-tuned for full power and completed a proof of performance on our transmitter. We are now thumping along at 676kW ERP, our licensed full power vs. our original 1.3kW

I didn't get last nights Yanks/Mets game on ESPN-HD in Dolby. However, I still get INHD, HDNET, and DiscoveryHD in Dolby Digital. Did we ever get ESPN-HD in Dolby? I don't remember yes or no.

TimWhat's your set-up like? Unless we compare apples to apples this issue may not apply. I'm using an SA PowerKEY CableCARD in a Panasonic PDP that has an optical digital audio out connection to an Onkyo receiver. Local channels like 1806, 1810, 1811 and 1813 that pass CCI byte 0x00 permit dolby digital sound output. Channels like TNT-HD passing CCI byte 0x02 do not. Until a couple of days ago, ESPN-HD had the CCI flag set to 0x00 but it was just changed to 0x02 which has disabled DD sound output. Copy Control Information can/is used to disable digital interfaces on devices that are not authorized to decrypt the incoming digital content. Content/CATV providers may choose to enable a "copy once/copy never" bit to enable/disable digital sound output. Time Warner claims this is being done by FCC mandate. It's kind of hard to accept that content providers are so paranoid abut digital piracy they disable DD audio for programs like a rerun of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

What's your set-up like? Unless we compare apples to apples this issue may not apply. I'm using an SA PowerKEY CableCARD in a Panasonic PDP that has an optical digital audio out connection to an Onkyo receiver. Local channels like 1806, 1810, 1811 and 1813 that pass CCI byte 0x00 permit dolby digital sound output. Channels like TNT-HD passing CCI byte 0x02 do not. Until a couple of days ago, ESPN-HD had the CCI flag set to 0x00 but it was just changed to 0x02 which has disabled DD sound output. Copy Control Information can/is used to disable digital interfaces on devices that are not authorized to decrypt the incoming digital content. Content/CATV providers may choose to enable a "copy once/copy never" bit to enable/disable digital sound output. Time Warner claims this is being done by FCC mandate. It's kind of hard to accept that content providers are so paranoid abut digital piracy they disable DD audio for programs like a rerun of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."


I am using a SA 8300HD DVR with an optical cable going to my Onkyo SR-600 receiver. I also have an HDMI cable going from my STB to my Sony KDF-55XS955 (RP-LCD) TV. In order to get DD to work, I need to go into the settings on the STB and change it from HDMI to Digital (when I want to use my surround system). I have a slot for a cablecard, but I can't give up (live without) my DVR. I know some of the shows I watch (before the reruns) on the big 4 were in DD. I haven't watched lately, though, so I don't know if it's still the case. I hope it is! I just remember thinking to myself last night while watching the game "hey, doesn't this channel broadcast in Dolby?"

Thank you all for your patience. We were off the air early last week while we re-tuned for full power and completed a proof of performance on our transmitter. We are now thumping along at 676kW ERP, our licensed full power vs. our original 1.3kW
Well, I'm certainly getting a strong signal now, but it's no longer watchable. Maybe it's just teething pains.

I'm in Delmar with a 4-bay bowtie in the attic and a distribution amp feeding 3 HD tuners: an LG LST-3410A and two computers with MyHD cards. Before the power increase I got weak but usable reception from WEWB-DT; the only issue was that recordings on the LG pixelated every 6 seconds, but just watching was OK. This afternoon the LG was pixelating every 2 seconds (watching; no point trying to record). Both MyHDs were pixelating regularly but randomly. This evening the LG is no longer pixelating, but the picture is freezing momentarily and often, making it jerky. The MyHDs are unchanged.

In the Chief Engineer Q&A forum on AlbanyHDTV, MasterFX1 reported trouble from his roof antenna but good indoor reception. He thought it might be a multipath issue. Maybe, but I think it's more than that. I put a variable attenuator before the DA and found no change in reception on any of my tuners until the signal was too low to use. And I have no trouble receiving the other digitals from the same location (6-2, WNYA, is also jerky on the LG but in a different way, and 6-1 is OK).

Were any changes made other than the power increase?

What's going on with WB? Great picture but no sound during show and very low sound and out of sync on com. Are they still working on this?

In the Chief Engineer Q&A forum on AlbanyHDTV, MasterFX1 reported trouble from his roof antenna but good indoor reception. He thought it might be a multipath issue.

I have to update my situation, BOTH of setups are not able to properly tune WEWB-DT. Neither my indoor antenna/VOOM STB or my outdoor antenna/DirecTV STB can get a watchable signal. Both setups show me about 1 still frame every second.

I am using a SA 8300HD DVR with an optical cable going to my Onkyo SR-600 receiver. I also have an HDMI cable going from my STB to my Sony KDF-55XS955 (RP-LCD) TV. In order to get DD to work, I need to go into the settings on the STB and change it from HDMI to Digital (when I want to use my surround system). I have a slot for a cablecard, but I can't give up (live without) my DVR. I know some of the shows I watch (before the reruns) on the big 4 were in DD. I haven't watched lately, though, so I don't know if it's still the case. I hope it is! I just remember thinking to myself last night while watching the game "hey, doesn't this channel broadcast in Dolby?"The cynic in me leads me to believe Time Warner implements CCI quite differently in their SA STBs than their SA CableCARDs.

I didn't get last nights Yanks/Mets game on ESPN-HD in Dolby. However, I still get INHD, HDNET, and DiscoveryHD in Dolby Digital. Did we ever get ESPN-HD in Dolby? I don't remember yes or no.

Tim
ESPN doesn't use Dolby surround. They use something called "circle surround". This is pasted from their website (http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tvlistings/espnhd/espnHDStory?id=1678995):

"In order to make the most of ESPN HD, look for a receiver with the SRS Circle Surround logo on the faceplate. ESPN HD uses this encoding system for their 5.1 surround sound track! Dolby Pro-Logic and Dolby Pro-Logic II decoders will also be able to produce a surround sound effect with the ESPN HD audio track. Also make sure your receiver bears the Dolby Digital and DTS logos to make the most out of all of your DVD movies."

Some bad thunderstorms plaqued our viewing area tonite and my Time Warner RoadRunner service has been disconnecting/re-connecting for hours, my neighbors TW cable service was shut down and tv viewing was impossible during and after the storm. I'm sure customers with the digital phone service from TW were also affected and inconvenienced by this unfortunate event.

I am a Directv subscriber and my television service hasn't so much as hiccuped the whole nite. In fact it looks as good as any other nite regardless of weather conditions. In fact I invited the neighbors to come over and watch television at my place until their service was returned.

Makes me wonder about those commercials advertised by TWC comparing satellite tv to cable tv. silly cable broadcasters, i'll stick to satellite.

Its been a few YEARS since I lost my DTV signal to weather conditions, but the next time it happens I will report it here to make a "concrete" comparison between the two services just to be fair.

I have to update my situation, BOTH of setups are not able to properly tune WEWB-DT. Neither my indoor antenna/VOOM STB or my outdoor antenna/DirecTV STB can get a watchable signal. Both setups show me about 1 still frame every second.

Try eliminating any preamps that you may have after your antenna. With the high power from WEWB as well as WRGB's increased signal, there's a much greater possibility of overload of an amplifier. Multipath would be the same at all power levels.

Try eliminating any preamps that you may have after your antenna. With the high power from WEWB as well as WRGB's increased signal, there's a much greater possibility of overload of an amplifier. Multipath would be the same at all power levels.

The VOOM STB is connected to an amplified antenna, but is indoors. The DirecTV STB is hooked to an unamplified antenna on my roof. Same reception issues on both. I wonder if there are two many refractions from Bald Mt.

I just got a USDigital receiver and I have an outdoor antenna in my attic in Wynantskill. For Analog I get a great channel 13, close to great 6, and a decent 10. As to 17, 23, and 45, they are worthless. Now for the digital/HD, I can only get 10.1, 10.2, the 2 PBS's and WB which always says that it is off air. I cannot understand why I cannot get Digital/HD 6 or 13 at all. The tuner does its own search for channels or I can manually put in the numbers and I get nothing. Any suggestions?

:-)
Rob

I just got a USDigital receiver and I have an outdoor antenna in my attic in Wynantskill. For Analog I get a great channel 13, close to great 6, and a decent 10. As to 17, 23, and 45, they are worthless. Now for the digital/HD, I can only get 10.1, 10.2, the 2 PBS's and WB which always says that it is off air. I cannot understand why I cannot get Digital/HD 6 or 13 at all. The tuner does its own search for channels or I can manually put in the numbers and I get nothing. Any suggestions?

:-)
Rob

Your antenna system is not working properly on the UHF channels. The analog signals on 17, 23, and 45 need to be at least viewable before you can expect DTV to work. Is it an all channel antenna? Is the antenna aimed at the Helderbergs? With WNYT-DT located in the Helderbergs, there's no longer any reason to compromise the aiming of an antenna. If the portion of the roof that it is aiming through is made with wood and asphalt, thanks OK, if it's aluminum siding or foil backed insulation, that's not good. Try another spot in the attic. Are the connections OK? Is the feedline of high quality?

The DTV reception that you are getting can only be attributed to serendipity.

The VOOM STB is connected to an amplified antenna, but is indoors. The DirecTV STB is hooked to an unamplified antenna on my roof. Same reception issues on both. I wonder if there are two many refractions from Bald Mt.
How's your reception of analog 45? I think digital 45 (RF 43) comes from the same place, and of course they're close in frequency. Ghosting on the analog should be an indicator of multipath on the digital. My reception of analog 45 is essentially clean, with a very faint ghost I can see only when there's a sharp-edged object against a plain background. But as I reported before, I can't get watchable reception of digital 45 since the power increase although I could before. I tried eliminating the amp in the line and used a variable attenuator, but it didn't help. I'm convinced there's something non-standard about the transmission.

How about some reports from others on WEWB reception, both good and bad. Is anyone getting clean reception without constant breakups? If you get it well and have an HD DVR, can you record it without problems? What equipment are you using? I'm mostly interested in which receivers and recorders work/don't work.

Your antenna system is not working properly on the UHF channels. The analog signals on 17, 23, and 45 need to be at least viewable before you can expect DTV to work. Is it an all channel antenna? Is the antenna aimed at the Helderbergs? With WNYT-DT located in the Helderbergs, there's no longer any reason to compromise the aiming of an antenna. If the portion of the roof that it is aiming through is made with wood and asphalt, thanks OK, if it's aluminum siding or foil backed insulation, that's not good. Try another spot in the attic. Are the connections OK? Is the feedline of high quality?

The DTV reception that you are getting can only be attributed to serendipity.


Thanks for responding. My Antenna is UHF/VHF. My 17, 23, and 45 are viewable in analog, just not great. Like I said, I am not even getting Digital 13. From what I see on Antennaweb.org the compass direction is basically the same for 6, 10, 13, and the future 23. If I get 10, I see no reason why I am not getting 6 or 13. I am getting no signal whatsoever. Oh, my house is vinyl siding and roof is wood and ashfalt. I don't think I could get a better signal for 23. Actually my satellite guy helped me install it and set it up for the best possible signal. That was for analog. From what I can see on antenna.org, the compass directions are pretty much the same as analog 13 so there is not reason why I should not get decent quality for the digitals. My antenna should not need to be realigned should it?

:-)
Rob

How about some reports from others on WEWB reception, both good and bad. Is anyone getting clean reception without constant breakups?

Reception on my end has been poor as well, constant breakups since the move to full power.
Maybe the question should be directed towards the people affliated at WEWB instead of the viewers. Seems like an issue on their end and probably not related to our equipment.

Anyone from WEWB care to comment on this?

Bueller?.. Bueller?....

Reception on my end has been poor as well, constant breakups since the move to full power.
Maybe the question should be directed towards the people affliated at WEWB instead of the viewers. Seems like an issue on their end and probably not related to our equipment.

I agree. On Monday 6/20 when there was testing at full power, picture was good. Since they came back on 6/22 I either get a blank screen or a picture with a strobe effect accompanied by occasional flagging of the top portion of the picture. A diagnostic screen on my TV also indicates "PCR unlocked."

Ironically, an early generation of DTV tuner at work has been showing a decent picture, while another model purchased just recently shows a blank screen.

My best guess is there is something missing or wrong in the transport stream.

Reception on my end has been poor as well, constant breakups since the move to full power.
Maybe the question should be directed towards the people affliated at WEWB instead of the viewers. Seems like an issue on their end and probably not related to our equipment.

Anyone from WEWB care to comment on this?

Bueller?.. Bueller?....
I agree; it's almost certainly a transmission problem. But if only a couple of us are having trouble, the CE would be more likely to blame our setups (so would I). If we're all having trouble they might try to find out why.

The logical place to ask is the WEWB Chief Engineer's Q&A over at AlbanyHDTV, but I can't post there. Probably invitation-only.

I brought one of my HTPCs to work tonight. MyHD MDP-130, Zenith Silver Sensor indoor antenna, no amp. Near I-90 and 85, ground floor. No problem with any stations on the hill except the constant pixelation on WEWB. Not even when I pointed the antenna at PAX (D50) in Amsterdam, which was weak but steady, like WEWB used to be.

Good Ben Stein imitation, BTW.

I removed power to my amplified antenna setup and still have the exact same strobing picture on WEWB-DT. My analog 45 comes in perfect. Based on my own experience and the reports of other viewers in this thread I am now also beginning to think there is something non-standard in WEWB-DT's data stream. Both of my setups receive all other local digitals fine.

My STB's are a VOOM (Motorola) Box and a Zenith Sat520.

Thanks for responding. My Antenna is UHF/VHF. My 17, 23, and 45 are viewable in analog, just not great. Like I said, I am not even getting Digital 13. From what I see on Antennaweb.org the compass direction is basically the same for 6, 10, 13, and the future 23. If I get 10, I see no reason why I am not getting 6 or 13. I am getting no signal whatsoever. Oh, my house is vinyl siding and roof is wood and ashfalt. I don't think I could get a better signal for 23. Actually my satellite guy helped me install it and set it up for the best possible signal. That was for analog. From what I can see on antenna.org, the compass directions are pretty much the same as analog 13 so there is not reason why I should not get decent quality for the digitals. My antenna should not need to be realigned should it?

:-)
Rob

Additional comments on attic antennas are at:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=381623&page=75&pp=30

If your antenna was working properly 17 and 45 would be as clear as a bell.

The logical place to ask is the WEWB Chief Engineer's Q&A over at AlbanyHDTV, but I can't post there. Probably invitation-only.

You have to be a registered member to post in the Chief Engineer forum. There is no "invitation-only" posting requirement.

Mr. Lapietra posts regularly in the WEWB Chief Engineer forum. Ask the question, and I'm sure he'll reply in a few days. (unless he's on vacation)

I haven't used my OTA STB in some time, so I fired it up tonight. I receive no audio or video on 45-1, even though the signal strength registers at 70%. I have an attic mounted antenna and have line-of-sight to the tower in the Helderbergs, which is 8 miles away.

I thought it was worth mentioning that WRGB is using bandwidth to display their Doppler Radar on 6-3.

Additional comments on attic antennas are at:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=381623&page=75&pp=30

If your antenna was working properly 17 and 45 would be as clear as a bell.


Ok forget 17 and 45, why can't I get 6 and 13 since I am able to get 10? Also 17 comes in no problem. As to 45, Everytime I have checked there is a message on the screen that says there is no programming at this time. But again, 6 and 13 should be coming in if I can get both 10's correct?

:-)
Rob

ESPN doesn't use Dolby surround. They use something called "circle surround". This is pasted from their website (http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tvlistings/espnhd/espnHDStory?id=1678995):

"In order to make the most of ESPN HD, look for a receiver with the SRS Circle Surround logo on the faceplate. ESPN HD uses this encoding system for their 5.1 surround sound track! Dolby Pro-Logic and Dolby Pro-Logic II decoders will also be able to produce a surround sound effect with the ESPN HD audio track. Also make sure your receiver bears the Dolby Digital and DTS logos to make the most out of all of your DVD movies."Weather it's DD 5.1 or circle surround doesn't really matter if Albany Time Warner Cable sets the "copy control" flag to "copy never" which disables the digital interface(s) of a CableCARD compliant HDTV. Why Albany Time Warner enables digital sound output for the 1200 tier music channels and 1800 tier locals but not the 1800 tier TNT-HD, IND-HD, YES-HD, ESPN-HD, etc., is the question their CATV digital subscribers would like an answer to.

You have to be a registered member to post in the Chief Engineer forum. There is no "invitation-only" posting requirement.

Mr. Lapietra posts regularly in the WEWB Chief Engineer forum. Ask the question, and I'm sure he'll reply in a few days. (unless he's on vacation)

I haven't used my OTA STB in some time, so I fired it up tonight. I receive no audio or video on 45-1, even though the signal strength registers at 70%. I have an attic mounted antenna and have line-of-sight to the tower in the Helderbergs, which is 8 miles away.

I though it was worth mentioning that WRGB is using bandwidth to display their Doppler Radar on 6-3.
Is there a difference between a registered member and any other kind of member? If so, how do I register? I signed up, I have a username (ebo, same as here) and password. When I log in I can apparently post replies to threads in some forums (at least there's a reply box at the bottom of the thread) but not in the CE Q&A forums, and I don't see any way to start a new thread anywhere. I can modify my profile but I see nothing there or elsewhere about registering beyond what I've already done.

I just checked WEWB-DT. Strong signal, no picture on two different tuners. Guess they're working on it.

As for WRGB's Doppler Radar Channel, I've always considered it a total waste of bandwidth, especially since its appearance coincided with the return of a problem I'd had with 6-2, which I thought had been fixed. One of my receivers (LG LST-3410A) shows jerky motion on 6-2 in any resolution except forced 480i (in Native mode, the LG converts 480i to 480p). It's not freezing; it's more like showing fields out of order, so that still pictures are OK but movement jumps back and forth between current and previous frames. The MyHD cards handle it OK, and so does the LG in 480i, but I'm not going to keep changing resolutions just to watch UPN in SD. Especially with Enterprise gone.

But I did use the radar to monitor storms last Friday night. I work at a satellite uplink, and heavy rain knocks out our transmission and/or reception. Nothing I could do about it, but at least I could estimate when it would happen and how long it would last. Still, I'd rather get that from their web site and give the bandwidth to 6-1.

For wastes of bandwidth, I nominate 13-2, an SD duplicate of 13-1. If they must run an SD channel (and I don't see why they must) they should at least put something different on it. Even if it's the same shows delayed 2 or 3 hours. If you missed it at 8:00, catch it at 11:00.

Ebo-

6-3 (When Displaying Radar) uses next to nothing for bandwidth. Since only an extremely tiny bit a information changes from frame to frame, it is probably only using 1mb/s (out of WRGB's allotment of 19+).

13-2, as a viewer in the immediate area is a waste. However, it is not really intended for us OTA or TWC viewers. 13-2 is an extremely cost effective way for WNYT to cleanly deliver their signal to distant cable systems. Rather than having a distant cable system attempt to recieve an analog signal OTA to insert into their lineup or use an expensive fiber connection... A distant cable operator can recieve 13-2 digitally via OTA and feed it right into their analog cable lineup. Thus WNYT is increasing it's viewership with relatively no expense.

Ok forget 17 and 45, why can't I get 6 and 13 since I am able to get 10? Also 17 comes in no problem. As to 45, Everytime I have checked there is a message on the screen that says there is no programming at this time. But again, 6 and 13 should be coming in if I can get both 10's correct?

:-)
Rob

WEWB-DT has a PCR problem. If all goes well, it may be corrected today.

If there is a bad connection to your antenna, the refelections in the feedline due to high VSWR will vary greatly depending on the channel.

Antenna patterns are sharper at higher channels, so if your antenna is mis-aimed, it would not bother WTEN as much as WRGB. WTEN-DT is on channel 26, WRGB-DT is on channel 39.

WNYT-DT is on channel 12 and is located in the Helderbergs. If your antenna is aimed at Bald Mountain (WNYT's analog site), there could be interference from 13 into 12.

Try to re-aim your antenna for a strong channel 45 analog with no snow. Re-check your antenna connections. Try an outdoor location for your antenna.

WEWB-DT has a PCR problem. If all goes well, it may be corrected today.
Apparently all went well. I just checked WEWB-DT, and it looks fine on all my receivers. And I can even record it on my LG DVR, which I haven't been able to do for months. Good job, WEWB techs!

Weather it's DD 5.1 or circle surround doesn't really matter if Albany Time Warner Cable sets the "copy control" flag to "copy never" which disables the digital interface(s) of a CableCARD compliant HDTV. Why Albany Time Warner enables digital sound output for the 1200 tier music channels and 1800 tier locals but not the 1800 tier TNT-HD, IND-HD, YES-HD, ESPN-HD, etc., is the question their CATV digital subscribers would like an answer to.

You keep claiming the CCI byte is set to "copy never" but here from section 9 on page 33 of the OpenCable™ Specifications, CableCARD™ Copy Protection 2.0 Specification located here: http://www.opencable.com/downloads/specs/OC-SP-CCCP2.0-I01-050331.pdf

9.1.2 EMI - Digital Copy Control Bits
The two lsb of the CCI byte are the EMI bits. They SHALL control copy permissions for digital copies. The EMI
bits SHALL be supplied to any Host digital output ports for control of copies made from those outputs. The EMI
bits are defined in Table 9.1-3.

Table 9.1-3 - EMI Values and Copy Permissions
EMI Value Digital Copy Permission
00b Copying not restricted
01b No further copying is permitted
10b One generation copy is permitted
11b Copying is prohibited

It thus appears the value of 2 actually means 'copy once,' so shouldn't the question be directed towards Panasonic about why their device is disabling optical digital output for channels with that value of CCI?

You keep claiming the CCI byte is set to "copy never" but here from section 9 on page 33 of the OpenCable™ Specifications, CableCARD™ Copy Protection 2.0 Specification located here: http://www.opencable.com/downloads/specs/OC-SP-CCCP2.0-I01-050331.pdf

9.1.2 EMI - Digital Copy Control Bits
The two lsb of the CCI byte are the EMI bits. They SHALL control copy permissions for digital copies. The EMI
bits SHALL be supplied to any Host digital output ports for control of copies made from those outputs. The EMI
bits are defined in Table 9.1-3.

Table 9.1-3 - EMI Values and Copy Permissions
EMI Value Digital Copy Permission
00b Copying not restricted
01b No further copying is permitted
10b One generation copy is permitted
11b Copying is prohibited

It thus appears the value of 2 actually means 'copy once,' so shouldn't the question be directed towards Panasonic about why their device is disabling optical digital output for channels with that value of CCI?The fault is definitely somewhere between Panasonic and the SA PowerKEY CableCARD and based upon the diagnostic information being passed by the PDP and the support (not) being provided by Albany Time Warner Cable it's impossible to determine.

Why do I get DD using the PDPs optical out interface for the 1200 tier and channels 1801, 1806, 1810, 1811 and 1813, but not TNT-HD, IND-HD, YES-HD? Why was I receiving DD on ESPN-HD two weeks ago but not now? Time Warner has to be flipping the bits, playing with things at the "head-end."

Supposedly the TV is certified with the OpenCable specifications and there are numerous reports of problems with the SA PowerKEYs that require firmware upgrades to resolve. My CableCARD has a firmware date of March 26, 2005; we'll see if the next release can fix this problem.

Ebo-

6-3 (When Displaying Radar) uses next to nothing for bandwidth. Since only an extremely tiny bit a information changes from frame to frame, it is probably only using 1mb/s (out of WRGB's allotment of 19+).


True, but even that is misleading as the ~1 mb/s drops somewhat lower to accomodate high motion on 6-1. 6-3 is highly buffered so that it borrows most of it's bits when there is no motion on 6-1. (Notice that 6-3 takes longer to tune in than 6-1.) The delay is due to buffering and a longer GOP, or "Group Of Pictures", which means an extremely low bit rate for images between full I frames. A long GOP is well suited to slow motion images such as Doppler Radar.

The WXXA DTV channel 7 decision was made on May 23rd and published on June 1.

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-05-1494A1.pdf

Tower Guy, what does this mean to us in terms of a livedate- now-90 days- 120 days?

WXXA's Chief Engineer states on the fox23news.com website that WXXA has now applied for a construction permit to operate at 10kw. Live date would be approx 120 days from FCC approval of the construction permit.

Thanks for the info - well it looks like it may be in time for NFL season this year. That's good news.

Thanks for the info - well it looks like it may be in time for NFL season this year. That's good news.

BAH! HA! :D

I think that early 2006 might be a little more realistic. Keep in mind that if the FCC grants approval today then ~120 days (+/-) makes it the month of November.

I would think that WXXA has all the pieces in place to start broadcasting HD OTA, so what do they actually have to construct with this permit?

bueller?.. bueller?..

Worth noting that TWC mistakenly aired porn on the YES HD channel yesterday. See AlbanyHDTV.com for more info.

Tower Guy, what does this mean to us in terms of a livedate- now-90 days- 120 days?

WXXA applied for the construction permit long ago after the first FCC decision.

There are three ways for Clear Channel to proceed.

1. Order the transmitter now and wait for a full construction permit.
2. Order the transmitter now and request a temporary permit.
3. Wait for a construction permit before ordering the transmitter.

The transmitter vendor should be able to deliver a transmitter in 90-120 days. Installation and test would be about one week.

Unless the transmitter has already been ordered, the best we can expect is late October. The worst case is next year.

Very Good. Hopefully it will be before the new year but we'll have to wait and see. Thanks for the response TG.

Remember when TWC's News9 launched and TWC began charging $2 more for basic cable?

Well it seems some folks in our viewing area in the state of Mass objected to the rate increase formally to the FCC, and the FCC seems to agree that it's an unlawful rate increase.

Someone in NY should literally make this a federal case by also complaining to the FCC. Wouldn't you like your cable bill to actually go down $2? Local TWC subscribers in Mass are currently NOT paying the extra $2.

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-05-2030A1.pdf

Clear Channel has told the FCC that they expect delivery of their DTV transmitter in Late September. It should be installed in October.

See the following for the full story:

http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6518123519

Does anyone know why WNYT is not broadcasting the Giants preseason game in HD. According to other threads it is available?

Clear Channel has told the FCC that they expect delivery of their DTV transmitter in Late September. It should be installed in October.

See the following for the full story:

http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6518123519

The FCC granted the WXXA-DT construction permit today. See page two of the following link:

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-260615A1.pdf

I've searched a few times and did not find any postings, so I apologize if this topic has been covered before. With DirecTV and the H-10 receiver, has anyone noticed any audio sync problems mainly on HD channels? It appears very obvious on Discovery HD and also on WNYT. I'm wondering if this is an HDMI issue, or possibly the broadcast itself?

I've searched a few times and did not find any postings, so I apologize if this topic has been covered before. With DirecTV and the H-10 receiver, has anyone noticed any audio sync problems mainly on HD channels? It appears very obvious on Discovery HD and also on WNYT. I'm wondering if this is an HDMI issue, or possibly the broadcast itself?

I use a Zenith SAT-520 (DirecTv) and have not noticed any issues with either channel you mention, I do not use HDMI and I receive my local channels via OTA for what its worth.

I've searched a few times and did not find any postings, so I apologize if this topic has been covered before. With DirecTV and the H-10 receiver, has anyone noticed any audio sync problems mainly on HD channels? It appears very obvious on Discovery HD and also on WNYT. I'm wondering if this is an HDMI issue, or possibly the broadcast itself?

Have you tried unplugging your STB to reset it? Sometimes a power cycle is needed, but the front panel on/off or the remote control is not as effective as pulling the plug. Even if that works you may be compensating for an anomaly on WNYT and Discovery HD.

Is anyone using Albany Time Warner's Scientific-Atlanta PowerKEY CableCARD? If so, what is your experience regarding ATW's "copy protection" policy, specifically for channels: 1827 - 1869 (from TNT-HD to ESPN-HD)?

My assumption is ATW is passing a "copy never" protection flag as part of the ECM/CCI control software for these channels. I appreciate any information that ATW cable subscribers, with CableCARD, have to offer.

Thanks a lot for the info. Apparently, there's issues with the H-10 receiver and I'm getting it replaced with the H10-250 DVR today. Since I've had DirecTV since '98, they gave it to me for $299 plus a $200 credit and a $100 mail in rebate- effectively reducing the cost to $0. I've read nothing but positive remarks on this TiVo unit, so we'll see how it is. Other people have also noted an audio delay problem with Discovery HD and other HD channels from time to time that use digital cable, so I'm guessing that it's most likely a broadcast issue. FYI- DirecTV told me that they are adding 30-40 new channels in HD by the end of November. Whether or not they will be free is a guess. Where is FOX-HD???

Where is FOX-HD???

WXXA-DT's (FOX-HD) estimated date of OTA transmission is Oct. 15th.

Sorry BMW528is, I guess you were referring to this FOX-HD.

By Steve Donohue 8/8/2005 12:04:00 AM

Fox Networks Group plans to launch two HD networks early next year -- an HDTV version of National Geographic Channel and Fox HD, which will draw from sporting events and popular TV series from broadcast network Fox, cable sister FX and other networks.

“Our goal is to help sell the concept of high-definition,” Fox Networks Group CEO Tony Vinciquerra said, predicting that there will be a big spike in sales of HDTV sets during the holiday season.

“We want to be positioned with our product to take advantage of that … It’s time to start putting the pedal to the metal to get this thing out,” he added.

Fox executives will seek license fees from cable and satellite distributors for the networks, which they hope will be carried on HDTV-programming tiers, Vinciquerra said.

The News Corp. unit is expected to announce the NGC HD plans Monday. NGC HD is scheduled to debut in January, timed to mark the fifth anniversary of the domestic launch of NGC.

The HD channel will be a straight simulcast of the standard-definition version of NGC, which has stepped up its production of HDTV shows to prepare for the rollout of NGC HD.

A firm launch date hasn’t been set for Fox HD. The network will run programming from several Fox venues, including its 20th Century Fox Television, producer of 24, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files; Fox Television Studios (Malcolm in the Middle, The Shield); and 20th Century Fox Film Corp. (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith).

Fox HD may also simulcast National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing events on FX and run programming from Speed Channel, Fuel and other Fox-owned networks.

While television rights won’t be an issue for NGC HD, since National Geographic produces most of its original programming, executives said it will be more of a challenge to line up programming for Fox HD, since some distributors may not want programming to appear on Fox HD before syndication runs.

Vinciquerra said Fox doesn’t expect to generate a big profit with either NGC HD or Fox HD. “This is not a business were putting together to help the bottom line. This is a business we’re getting into to help the digital transition,” he added.

MasterFX1-- I appreciate the thoughtfulness of your replies and your time. After DirecTV installed my new HD-TiVo unit, there have been no problems with audio or video quality, although it seems at times that Discovery-HD appears jittery.

The non-DVR unit (H-10) that I had for 2 weeks had a native setting for the resolution (480i/p, 720p, and 1080i), which I liked. However, the user has to select the resolution for the new DVR manually. Does it make a difference in video quality if I'm watching an HD network and select 720p when in fact a show is broadcasted in 1080i?

My TV will state "1080i" even on a standard def program, if that is what I have selected on the DVR. It appears that I may simply have to manually change the resolution for each individual channel (a real pain). How does a viewer know which resolution to select on a HD show (720p/1080i)?

Incidentally, if anyone is wondering, the HD-DVR displays a better picture for SD programs than the HD-10, which DirecTV explained still has some minor issues.

I'm having a recent problem receiving WRGB-HD under certain conditions, and I'm wondering if they've changed something about their digital specs in the last couple of weeks. Also, if someone has a MyHD card (preferably with DVI out) I'd like to know if he sees the same problem.

I have 3 digital tuners: MyHD MDP-120, MyHD MDP-130 and LG LST-3410A. All have DVI out driving a Sony VPL-HS20 projector. Until recently, all received WRGB-HD without problem. Now both of the MyHD cards, if set to output Native resolution, show a white band with a screen door effect running through it. The picture is faintly visible in the right half of the band. The lower half is either black or a freeze-frame of previous video. If I force 1920x1080i or 1280x720p the picture is OK. The LG has no problem in Native mode. The MDP-130 shows the same problem on TWC's retransmission of WRGB-HD (the 120 can't tune digital cable).

I recorded a couple of minutes of WRGB and ran the file through MPEG2Repair. It didn't make it any more playable, but the error report had a suspicious line:

Info: End of sequence: 1440 x 1080, 29.97 fps, 90.00 Mbps.

The same line from a recording of WMHT-HD reads:

Info: End of sequence: 1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps, 19.40 Mbps.

It appears to me that WRGB has made a change that the LG can handle but MyHD cannot. Can anyone verify any of this?

Hey folks,

I'm at 05773 zip. Are there any OTA HD signals in the Albany, NY area that I'd be able to pick up from my location? According to my GPS I'm 68.8 miles from Albany...give or take a few miles depending on the tower locales.

I would consider giving it a shot, but only if the stations (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX)are in HD.

I do have a pretty clear line of sight to the Albany area from my location. What would I need as far as an antenna and amp? TIA.

I'm having a recent problem receiving WRGB-HD under certain conditions, and I'm wondering if they've changed something about their digital specs in the last couple of weeks. Also, if someone has a MyHD card (preferably with DVI out) I'd like to know if he sees the same problem.

I have 3 digital tuners: MyHD MDP-120, MyHD MDP-130 and LG LST-3410A. All have DVI out driving a Sony VPL-HS20 projector. Until recently, all received WRGB-HD without problem. Now both of the MyHD cards, if set to output Native resolution, show a white band with a screen door effect running through it. The picture is faintly visible in the right half of the band. The lower half is either black or a freeze-frame of previous video. If I force 1920x1080i or 1280x720p the picture is OK. The LG has no problem in Native mode. The MDP-130 shows the same problem on TWC's retransmission of WRGB-HD (the 120 can't tune digital cable).

I recorded a couple of minutes of WRGB and ran the file through MPEG2Repair. It didn't make it any more playable, but the error report had a suspicious line:

Info: End of sequence: 1440 x 1080, 29.97 fps, 90.00 Mbps.

The same line from a recording of WMHT-HD reads:

Info: End of sequence: 1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps, 19.40 Mbps.

It appears to me that WRGB has made a change that the LG can handle but MyHD cannot. Can anyone verify any of this?


I'm having the same problem.
I have a LG LST-3510A (same unit, but with a DVD player, I think) and it can't handle it. All the other channels including 6-2 and 6-3 are perfect. Signal strength is over 75%. I have a crystal clear picture with no breakup on 13-1 with only about 50% strength. Does anyone have any info on this? Is anyone else having this issue?

I'm having the same problem.
I have a LG LST-3510A (same unit, but with a DVD player, I think) and it can't handle it. All the other channels including 6-2 and 6-3 are perfect. Signal strength is over 75%. I have a crystal clear picture with no breakup on 13-1 with only about 50% strength. Does anyone have any info on this? Is anyone else having this issue?
I am having the same problem with 6-1 using the LG LST3510A. I hooked up a Samsung SIR T151 and 6-1 is fine using this STB.
Ron

I am having the same problem with 6-1 using the LG LST3510A. I hooked up a Samsung SIR T151 and 6-1 is fine using this STB.
Ron


I just bought the 3510A as an upgrade to my T151. I was going to ebay my T151, not sure what to do now :(

I'm having a recent problem receiving WRGB-HD under certain conditions, and I'm wondering if they've changed something about their digital specs in the last couple of weeks. Also, if someone has a MyHD card (preferably with DVI out) I'd like to know if he sees the same problem.

I recorded a couple of minutes of WRGB and ran the file through MPEG2Repair. It didn't make it any more playable, but the error report had a suspicious line:

Info: End of sequence: 1440 x 1080, 29.97 fps, 90.00 Mbps.

The same line from a recording of WMHT-HD reads:

Info: End of sequence: 1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps, 19.40 Mbps.

It appears to me that WRGB has made a change that the LG can handle but MyHD cannot. Can anyone verify any of this?

After upgrading our multiplexer control software, our encoder was somehow enocoding 1440 x 1080 even though it told us it was in 1920 x 1080 mode.

Thank you for pointing this out. We would appreciate it if everyone that had a problem in the last several days verified they no longer have this problem.

After upgrading our multiplexer control software, our encoder was somehow enocoding 1440 x 1080 even though it told us it was in 1920 x 1080 mode.

Thank you for pointing this out. We would appreciate it if everyone that had a problem in the last several days verified they no longer have this problem.
6-1 is now ok using my LG LST 3510A.
Ron

This is exciting!!! Had a nice talk with the WRGB EngDept,. earlier today, I believe it was Fred. Anyway, after our talk I was just curious to see what I'd be able to pick up OTA in my area. Using a single rabbit ear antenna off my 13" TV/VCR combo in my office, I hooked it up to my DISHNET 811 HD rcvr, did a scan and up pops our local PBS HD feed!!! CHRIS ISSAC in concert in HD!!!

Oh, now I'm definitely gonna try to see if I can get any OTA from Albany!!! Just need to decide on what to purchase as far as an antenna. WRGB recommended the CM 4228 & 7777. Wudda ya think?

This is exciting!!! HD!!!

Oh, now I'm definitely gonna try to see if I can get any OTA from Albany!!! Just need to decide on what to purchase as far as an antenna. WRGB recommended the CM 4228 & 7777. Wudda ya think?

I'd try the ChannelMaster 3678 with a 7777 preamp. The 4228 is UHF only, the 3678 is all channel. NBC is on channel 12 and FOX will be on channel 7. CBS is on 39, PBS is on 34 and ABC is on 26. ABC is also on the air from Mt. Greylock in Massachusetts on channel 36. The PBS that you found is on channel 9. WNNE-DT from Mt. Ascutney just went HD too.

I'd try the ChannelMaster 3678 with a 7777 preamp. The 4228 is UHF only, the 3678 is all channel. NBC is on channel 12 and FOX will be on channel 7. CBS is on 39, PBS is on 34 and ABC is on 26. ABC is also on the air from Mt. Greylock in Massachusetts on channel 36. The PBS that you found is on channel 9. WNNE-DT from Mt. Ascutney just went HD too.

TG,

Thanks for the reply. CM 3678/7777 combo eh? Time to start googling the best price. Once again thanks!

I'd try the ChannelMaster 3678 with a 7777 preamp. The 4228 is UHF only, the 3678 is all channel.

The CM 3678 is on sale this week at Stark Electronics for $89.
http://www.starkelectronic.com/allant.htm

The CM 3678 is on sale this week at Stark Electronics for $89.
http://www.starkelectronic.com/allant.htm

Yup...found it before I got your post reply. Damn thing is 12.5 feet long!!!

After upgrading our multiplexer control software, our encoder was somehow enocoding 1440 x 1080 even though it told us it was in 1920 x 1080 mode.

Thank you for pointing this out. We would appreciate it if everyone that had a problem in the last several days verified they no longer have this problem.


Yep my LG is all set now, props to WRGB!!

Looks like I can sell my T151 now :)

Note that Belo has allowed stations anywhere in the country to rebroadcast WWL's non-stop coverage of Hurricane Katrina. We are airing it on 6-3 and 1896 on TWC.

WWL's studios are underwater in New Orleans. They are operating out of the PBS facilities in Baton Rouge, LA.

Originally Posted by WRGB EngDept
After upgrading our multiplexer control software, our encoder was somehow enocoding 1440 x 1080 even though it told us it was in 1920 x 1080 mode.

Thank you for pointing this out. We would appreciate it if everyone that had a problem in the last several days verified they no longer have this problem.
Yes, that did it for my MyHD cards. My LG never had the problem, although others reported their 3510As did (and are now OK). Thank you!

Let me mention another problem I've been having with 6-2, the SD feed of WNYA. When I first got the 3410A over a year ago, I found that motion on 6-2 was jerky in any mode except forced 480i (Native mode on the 3410A converts 480i to 480p and shows the jerkiness, as do forced 1080i and 720p).

My best description is that it looks like fields or frames out of order, such as:
Frame 2, Field 1
Frame 1, Field 2
Frame 3, Field 1
Frame 2, Field 2
etc. I can't analyze it to say that's exactly what's happening, but it definitely jumps back and forth between current and previous video. Only the LG shows this; my MyHD cards do not have this problem at any resolution, forced or native.

The problem cleared up for a while, but came back when you started showing the radar on 6-3. At the moment you're showing WWL from New Orleans on 6-3 (good call, BTW; I think many viewers want to know what's going on there) and the jerkiness is now on 6-3 while 6-2 is smooth.

It's not a big issue for me now that I've become an HD snob, and I can fix it at my end with some effort, but thought I'd mention it in case it's an easy fix.

Wow, ask and ye shall receive! Yesterday I commented on the jerkiness I usually saw on WRGB 6-2 (and at that time, on 6-3). Today the problem seems to be gone on both subchannels. If WRGB EngDept is reading this, THANK YOU!

Wow, ask and ye shall receive! Yesterday I commented on the jerkiness I usually saw on WRGB 6-2 (and at that time, on 6-3). Today the problem seems to be gone on both subchannels. If WRGB EngDept is reading this, THANK YOU!

You're welcome. We had occasionally experimented with different MPEG GOP structures and lengths to try to strike a balance between picture quality and bit rate required. In checking several different configurations we had been using against your descriptions of when and on what sub-channels the problems appeared, we determined that trying to use a GOP structure of IBBBP seems to cause your equipment to behave unfavorably. The intention was to try to achieve higher levels of compression theoretically possible by encoding using extra B-frames. This afternoon, we changed both SD encoder's GOP structures to IBBP. Before we could post this information to see if it helped, you had already noticed the improvement. Thanks.

The intention was to try to achieve higher levels of compression theoretically possible by encoding using extra B-frames.Why, just to pass another channel of "worthless" weather programming? :rolleyes:

And I always thought (based on what others were saying) that OTA was "pure" and NEVER compressed (as compared to TWC). But it seems that both TWC and some OTA stations do a little compression, eh?

(not that I have anything to compare against. I got rid of my OTA because WRGB was so bad to watch due to pixalation and audio issues--others had the same thing. ) But now that it's on TWC, I don't seem to have that problem anymore.

Other than TW taking their sweet time adding more HD channels.

I especially like their up converted broadcast programming they try and pass off as HD. I'm so annoyed with TWC I'm dropping RoadRunner and switching to DSL. Of course even Verizon can't seem to come up with a firm install date. :rolleyes:

And I always thought (based on what others were saying) that OTA was "pure" and NEVER compressed (as compared to TWC). But it seems that both TWC and some OTA stations do a little compression, eh?

(not that I have anything to compare against. I got rid of my OTA because WRGB was so bad to watch due to pixalation and audio issues--others had the same thing. ) But now that it's on TWC, I don't seem to have that problem anymore.

Other than TW taking their sweet time adding more HD channels.
Neither broadcast nor cable feeds uncompressed digital. They couldn't; it wouldn't fit in the bandwidth they have available. It's uncompressed only at the point where it's fed to the display. DVI and HDMI carry uncompressed digital; component carries uncompressed analog.

Also, it's lossy compression, so a compressed picture can never look quite as good as the original. The trick is to compress it as much as you can without seriously degrading the picture. What's serious depends on who's doing the judging, and it's always a tradeoff with the desire to cram as many channels as possible into the available bandwidth. DirecTV opted for a higher channel count, and their quality suffered. They're trying to dig themselves out of that hole with spot beamed locals and a switch to more efficient compression.

When I got my first HD receiver over a year ago, I saw lots of motion artifacts on the local HD broadcasts, particularly in the fast-moving opening of CSI and when the cameras swirled around the studio at the start of Leno. That's much improved, though I still see some. Probably the worst right now is WMHT-HD, where scenes like a flock of birds taking off look like they were shot through a glass shower door.

I've compared the stations I get both OTA and on cable and I don't see any difference except that lately WNYT-HD pixelates randomly OTA (unrelated to on-screen motion) while it's clean on cable. I suspect that's my own problem: I reduced my all-channel, multi-antenna attic system to a UHF 4-bay bowtie, and WNYT is VHF (channel 12). I'll see what happens when WXXA starts on ch. 7 in a month or so (if they're still on schedule).

I especially like their up converted broadcast programming they try and pass off as HD. I'm so annoyed with TWC I'm dropping RoadRunner and switching to DSL. Of course even Verizon can't seem to come up with a firm install date. :rolleyes:
So far all local and some network shows are SD, upconverted when shown on an HD channel. Doesn't matter if you get it via cable or OTA.

WMHT-HD is a special case. It's a pass-through of PBS-HD, and about half of that programming is SD zoomed to fill the 16:9 screen. For some reason they schedule very few true HD shows in prime time. Most are in the dinner hour or overnight.

The best local upconversion I've seen is WTEN's news. If it weren't for the 4:3 aspect ratio and the slight softness of the titles, I could be fooled into thinking the studio shots were HD. At least one of their ENG systems turns out near-HD quality as well, although others look as poor as you would expect.

Dunno what RoadRunner has to do with cable picture quality, but I'd only drop it for something faster, like FIOS. Which I'm in the process of doing. 14.5 Mbps typical real-world download speed. Yee-Haa!

Hello,

Does anyone know if tonights Yanks/Redsox game scheduled to be on ESPN & Fox (local affilate I believe) will be on ESPN or will it be blacked out? Fox's local coverage has the worst SD picture I've seen in a while... it's hard to watch the Yanks on a Friday night (talking about picture quality here). Hopefully ESPN will be showing this game in HD (and will be on in our market).

So far all local and some network shows are SD, upconverted when shown on an HD channel. Doesn't matter if you get it via cable or OTA.

WMHT-HD is a special case. It's a pass-through of PBS-HD, and about half of that programming is SD zoomed to fill the 16:9 screen. For some reason they schedule very few true HD shows in prime time. Most are in the dinner hour or overnight.

The best local upconversion I've seen is WTEN's news. If it weren't for the 4:3 aspect ratio and the slight softness of the titles, I could be fooled into thinking the studio shots were HD. At least one of their ENG systems turns out near-HD quality as well, although others look as poor as you would expect.

Dunno what RoadRunner has to do with cable picture quality, but I'd only drop it for something faster, like FIOS. Which I'm in the process of doing. 14.5 Mbps typical real-world download speed. Yee-Haa!

You and me both. There's a thread on AVS about the FIOS and I guess Verizon announced pricing for Keller, TX. VERY VERY cheap compared to TW Cable and MORE HD stations!

Hopefully within a year here (I'm in Colonie so they haven't run the fiber yet, but are planning very shortly), I'll be dumping TWC for Verizon. Serves 'em right. Jacking up my cable bill and STILL no new HD stations while every other provider is adding them all the time. No Universal HD, etc.

I've ordered Verizon's DSL service, I'm hoping someday to "dump" Time Warner Completely.

Any more info on when Fox's OTA HDTV broadcast will go live?

edit: Just saw the info on the last page. Looks like I'm waiting until Oct. 15th.

WXXA-DT's (FOX-HD) estimated date of OTA transmission is Oct. 15th.

Is there any info what channel WXXA'a OTA DT will broadcast on?

Is there any info what channel WXXA'a OTA DT will broadcast on?

I think channel 23. Hope it will come soon in time for Sun Football.

The WXXA website is now stating it will not have OTA-HD until December.

"WXXA-TV has placed an order for a Digital Television Transmitter. Projected DTV broadcast date is December 1, 2005."

It will be on rf 7, but will likely label itself 23-1 after your tuner receives it.

WXXA's upconverted HD (not) broadcast of the Yankees/Red Sox game last night was a joke.

Here is the info I get from the general manager of our local Fox station:

"Thank you for your e-mail. WXXA-DT is targeted for over the air broadcast on or around December 1st. The tower and transmitter facility is built, the transmitter ordered, and the FCC building permit finally granted. Thank you for your patience and for watching FOX23.

Jeffrey J. Whitson
V.P./General Manager
FOX23 WXXA-TV"

3.5 months to go....

Anybody know which games will be HD on Sunday?

- Paul

Anybody know which games will be HD on Sunday?

- Paul

http://www.wrgb.com/tv6info/whatson6/whatson6.asp?Selection=1

http://www.hdsportsguide.com/

The Patriots/ Carolina game is in HD. The Jets/ Miami is not.

WXXA lists only NFL at 1 PM but no teams.

WTEN will be carrying the entire Giants game in HD; Monday at 7:30 PM. We'll see the end of the 9 PM game.

Sent a letter regarding OLN HD to TWC. This is how it went:

----- Original Message ----- From: "Taubkin, Pete" <peter.taubkin@twcable.com>
To: <*****@nycap.rr.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 4:45 PM
Subject: Re: OLN HD and the Sabres

> Cliftonmets:
>
> I'm out of town...but as a quick response...no word on oln hd. I expect we > will have nhl hd games on hdnet and also via msg for home games. Also, we > will have sabre games.
>
> Hope that helps for now. I expect we will be able to post more info on our > website soon.
>
>
>
> Peter Taubkin
> Vice President
> Government Relations and Public Affairs - Albany Division
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Cliftonmets<*****@nycap.rr.com>
> To: Taubkin, Pete <peter.taubkin@twcable.com>
> Sent: Wed Sep 21 20:12:40 2005
> Subject: OLN HD and the Sabres
>
> Dear Mr. Taubkin,
>
>
>
> Two questions:
>
>
>
> Will TWC carry NHL games in HD from OLN?
>
>
>
> Will TW Albany be carrying the Sabres from MSG like they with Empire > Sports Network?
>
>
>
> > Thank You

Does TW plan on carrying the WB in HD?

WEWB-DT (The Capital Region's WB) has taken a similar stance as WNYT and WRGB once did. While both WNYT and WRGB did finally come to terms with TWC, WEWB still has not.

WEWB-DT (The Capital Region's WB) has taken a similar stance as WNYT and WRGB once did. While both WNYT and WRGB did finally come to terms with TWC, WEWB still has not.

Thanks for the info. The WB has 2 of my weekly shows (Smallville & Supernatural). I'd like to see these shows in HD someday.

Thanks for the info. The WB has 2 of my weekly shows (Smallville & Supernatural). I'd like to see these shows in HD someday.
So stick up an antenna. Even an indoor one like the Zenith Silver Sensor ought to be enough anywhere near Albany. WEWB was a tough shot when they were low power, but now they come barreling in.

hmm... good idea. I bought one of those terk's last fall when I bought my HDTV, but I couldn't pick up a single channel. Maybe things have got better since then.

Terk is notoriously bad. If you must use an indoor antenna (I say must because most outdoor antennas, even when left indoors, work better) try the Silver Sensor first.

Also make sure it is both VHF and UHF. Most of our OTA-digital-locals are in the UHF spectrum, WNYT-DT (NBC) and the "soon-to-be-transmitting" WXXA-DT (FOX) are VHF.

I bought the Silver Sensor at Sears last night. The only channel I was able to pick up was 13 (analog) and it was very fuzzy. I live in Halfmoon, I might be too far away to be able to pick up the HD channels OTA. Oh well.

An outdoor antenna on your rooftop in Halfmoon should work great.

I bought the Silver Sensor at Sears last night. The only channel I was able to pick up was 13 (analog) and it was very fuzzy. I live in Halfmoon, I might be too far away to be able to pick up the HD channels OTA. Oh well.

I think that you are well within the range to receive HD signals OTA. Remember that the Silver Sensor is a UHF antenna and will work best with WRGB, WTEN, WMHT, and WEWB digital channels.

I havent had alot of time to mess around with my SS but it seemed to do a good job with the all the available UHF Digital channels with little or no effort. WNYT was the most difficult signal to pick up due to the VHF band with the Silver Sensor.
Also keep in mind that I do live closer to the Community Tower so your results may vary. Good Luck.

MSG HD on TWC Soon

Cant wait for this to happen.

From: Taubkin, Pete
To: *********@aim.com
Cc:
Bcc:
Subject: RE: MSG and FSNY in HD
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 10:02:58 -0400

My hope would be to have the first game by the 15th. Further information will be forthcoming once finalized.





Thanks.

Peter M. Taubkin
Vice President
Government Relations & Public Affairs
Time Warner Cable -Albany
1021 High Bridge Road
Schenectady, NY 12303
(518) 242-8839 -phone
(518) 242-8948 -fax
peter.taubkin@twcable.com
www.twalbany.com


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: *********@aim.com [mailto:cliftonmets@aim.com]
Sent: Saturday, October 01, 2005 7:31 PM
To: Taubkin, Pete
Subject: MSG and FSNY in HD



Dear Mr. Taubkin,



When can we see MSG HD and FSNY HD locally?


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi folks. I just purchased a sony 50" LCD and have TWC package with a 8300 DVR box. I am finding that the only channels I watch are ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS, and Discovery. I think I am nuts for paying all this money for digital cable when I can just get an Antenna.

If I go to Antenna, what will I be giving up or gaining? Is it true that if I go antenna I may not get 5.1 on all the channles? If that is true then that's obviously alot to give up but I may be misinformed. I hear OTA may provide a better picture too, especially since my cable is spliced a few times (I think TWC put in quality splicers though).

I live in Charlton, near Ballston Lake, Burnt Hills area. Any advice based on experience on a nice antenna?

Nick

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Mets are leaving FSNY and MSG next year for their new network - SportsNet, which is partially owned by TW and Comcast. Hopefully, that station will be ready to go HD locally.

Paul

I just picked up one of the clearance Radio Shack HD tuners and a RCA amplified antenna (ANT-1250). I live in Clifton Park and I'm able to pick up all the major channels. However, while watching programs, the picture & audio will freeze and sometimes drop out, only to return a 5-10 seconds later. If I turn on the "meter" feature of the tuner, I see the signal usually hovers around the 85-90% area, but drops to 49% when the picture & audio disappears.

I'm really avoiding going with an outdoor antenna, due to the hassle and time involved with setup (for so few channels). Can anyone make a suggestion on what antenna I should be looking to buy? Also, will it help with my situation? I know I want a UHF/VHF antenna, because when FOX starts broadcasting, I will want to be able to watch them.

Finally, is there any reason why I can't pick up the non-digital signal of FOX through my HD tuner? If I unplug the antenna from the tuner and plug it directly into the TV, I get FOX without an issue. With a big screen tv, it's a pain to have to slide it out and change the plug each time I want to switch to FOX.

Thanks for any advice!!!
Jake

...is there any reason why I can't pick up the non-digital signal of FOX through my HD tuner? If I unplug the antenna from the tuner and plug it directly into the TV, I get FOX without an issue. With a big screen tv, it's a pain to have to slide it out and change the plug each time I want to switch to FOX.

That tuner does not have an NTSC (Analog) tuner, it only has an ATSC (Digital) tuner, that is why it cannot receive analog fox. Add a splitter to the antenna to prevent having to leave your seat to switch to the tv's tuner.

If I go to Antenna, what will I be giving up or gaining? Nick
Gaining about $65 extra a month in your pocket.

Assuming you have the ability to pickup the local channels OTA, I would;

1) Lose TWC

2) Buy a HD Satellite Dish receiver that has the ability to pickup the locals(rooftop antenna) along with the available HD packages. (DirecTv or Dish)

CBS HD - Free via OTA
ABC HD - Free!
NBC HD - Free!
WMHT HD - Free!
WEWB(WB) HD - Free!

NO FOX HD.... yet.

Add the Directv HD package at $10.99 a month and add;

ESPN-HD
ESPN2-HD
Universal-HD
Discovery-HD
HDNet-HD
HDNet Movies-HD

NO INHD,TNT (Only available via TWC)

Dish Network might even be a better choice, I only have DTV.

Did anyone else notice this thing?

http://www.kittyfingers.com/bug1.jpg

Did anyone else notice this thing?

http://www.kittyfingers.com/bug1.jpg

Yes, rather large. I would say it's "OK" if it only came up for 10 seconds every 15 minutes, but up all the time? It's visually assaulting to me.

Yes, rather large. I would say it's "OK" if it only came up for 10 seconds every 15 minutes, but up all the time? It's visually assaulting to me.
But they're only using one line at the bottom. They've got the whole rest of the screen for continuous begging! Or maybe they could squeeze the picture down into a small window (most of the shows on PBS-HD are SD anyway) and fill the remaining space with capsule news, sports, weather, maybe a stock ticker.

Hope their GM doesn't read this forum. Wouldn't want to give them any ideas.

Seriously, this might be a stopgap while they move to their new location. Don't know where they are in that process. But their old lower-right logo was pretty large and when added to the equally large PBS-HD in the upper left was a constant annoyance. I understand the need to identify stations, particularly with so many of them on cable or satellite, but I wish they'd do it like closed captions so you could turn it on or off.

Gaining about $65 extra a month in your pocket.

Assuming you have the ability to pickup the local channels OTA, I would;

1) Lose TWC

2) Buy a HD Satellite Dish receiver that has the ability to pickup the locals(rooftop antenna) along with the available HD packages. (DirecTv or Dish)

CBS HD - Free via OTA
ABC HD - Free!
NBC HD - Free!
WMHT HD - Free!
WEWB(WB) HD - Free!

NO FOX HD.... yet.

Add the Directv HD package at $10.99 a month and add;

ESPN-HD
ESPN2-HD
Universal-HD
Discovery-HD
HDNet-HD
HDNet Movies-HD

NO INHD,TNT (Only available via TWC)

Dish Network might even be a better choice, I only have DTV.

I looked into DirectTV and Dish, i see no major advantage over Cable. The costs work out to be about the same. Dish wants $250 for their DVR and $10 for the other receivers, DirectTv is just a pricer plan than Dish but doesn't rape you on the hardware.

I have decided to just get an OTA for my reception. I will miss Discovery Channel, it is the only channel I watch, other than the networks.

So, with a roof top antenna, I will not get FOX in HD?

Hi folks. I just purchased a sony 50" LCD and have TWC package with a 8300 DVR box. I am finding that the only channels I watch are ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS, and Discovery. I think I am nuts for paying all this money for digital cable when I can just get an Antenna.

If I go to Antenna, what will I be giving up or gaining? Is it true that if I go antenna I may not get 5.1 on all the channles? If that is true then that's obviously alot to give up but I may be misinformed. I hear OTA may provide a better picture too, especially since my cable is spliced a few times (I think TWC put in quality splicers though).

I live in Charlton, near Ballston Lake, Burnt Hills area. Any advice based on experience on a nice antenna?

Nick

My favorite all channel antenna is the Channel Master 3016. Its cost is $29 at:

http://www.starkelectronic.com/allant.htm

You'll also need a balun, some RG-6 coax, F connectors, a mast, mounting brackets for your eaves, chimney, or roof, and some ground wire. You shouldn't need a rotator or a preamp. Instructions for antenna installation are at:

http://www.starkelectronic.com/cmig.htm

Antenna location selection should be easy in Charlton. Put it up where ever it's convenient. Some have had luck with attic installations.

The best results with an antenna are when you design a system with some margin. That means, a little higher or a little bigger gives more reliable results. Amplified indoor antennas are a bad idea.

WXXA-DT should be on the air in early December.

Thanks for the info. Here is one last question. I would like to put the antenna on the side of my house, on top of the roof, this way there is a very short cable run. Unfortunately, this side of the house has some really tall trees (not right next to house but about 20 feet away). Will a bigger antenna combat this interference or are the trees nothing to really worry about?

What scares me is that dvd's are a lot nicer than hd cable. This can't be right. I am assuming it is either from my cable line having such a long run as well as being split a couple times or cable just doesn't give the same crisp look as an antenna might.

We'll see.

Nick

What scares me is that dvd's are a lot nicer than hd cable. This can't be right. I am assuming it is either from my cable line having such a long run as well as being split a couple times or cable just doesn't give the same crisp look as an antenna might.

If you are seeing the HD picture without break-ups or stutters, you are getting the "Whole" signal. Digital TV uses a process called "Error Correction" to overcome less than a 100% signal. If you are watching without obvious problems, then a better signal will NOT get you a better viewing experience. The things you are noticing are likely compression artifacts, either by the channel itself or TWC's encoding of it.

Thanks for the info. Here is one last question. I would like to put the antenna on the side of my house, on top of the roof, this way there is a very short cable run. Unfortunately, this side of the house has some really tall trees (not right next to house but about 20 feet away). Will a bigger antenna combat this interference or are the trees nothing to really worry about?

What scares me is that dvd's are a lot nicer than hd cable. This can't be right. I am assuming it is either from my cable line having such a long run as well as being split a couple times or cable just doesn't give the same crisp look as an antenna might.

Nick

I wouldn't worry too much about the trees. The TV stations are running plenty of power. Just to be sure, type your address into the following URL;

www.antennaweb.org

If a DVD looks better than HD cable, you can't be watching HD. The only HD signals on Time Warner are the channels above 1800. The connections between the cable box and your display must be a HD interface such as Y, Pr, Pb.

I am watching 1806, 1810, 1813 etc... via HDMI or Y, Pr, Pb...I have both hooked up. Don't get me wrong, the pic is nice but it isn't any better than my DVD. That's why I am wondering what else it could be.....possibly the really long cable run and the fact that it is split where the line originally comes in (for two other tv's) and then again right before it reaches my TV (for my internet connection). So my alternative is to try an antenna, wich will have a very short cable run and no splits.

Solid Signal suggested I get the CM 3016 (30-45 mi reach). I can't believe how cheap they are.

Nick

If you are seeing the HD picture without break-ups or stutters, you are getting the "Whole" signal. Digital TV uses a process called "Error Correction" to overcome less than a 100% signal. If you are watching without obvious problems, then a better signal will NOT get you a better viewing experience. The things you are noticing are likely compression artifacts, either by the channel itself or TWC's encoding of it.

OK. I got ya. I believe they are compression artifacts as well as sse but it just appears more noticable on HD then on DVD's. Maybe the dvd's I'm watching are just darker and sse is less noticable.

I guess the real reason i want to go antenna is the $$ savings. The only other cost will be a dvr. I will still need that, for sure.

Also - I can't stand anything playing on HBO or Showtime Hd. I never watch it. I watch Rome occassionally but nothing great. I will miss discovery, that's it.

I am watching 1806, 1810, 1813 etc... via HDMI or Y, Pr, Pb...I have both hooked up. Don't get me wrong, the pic is nice but it isn't any better than my DVD. That's why I am wondering what else it could be.....possibly the really long cable run and the fact that it is split where the line originally comes in (for two other tv's) and then again right before it reaches my TV (for my internet connection). So my alternative is to try an antenna, wich will have a very short cable run and no splits.

Solid Signal suggested I get the CM 3016 (30-45 mi reach). I can't believe how cheap they are.

Nick

The screen resolution of the Sony 50" Grand WEGA model KDF-50WE655 is 1386 x 788. DVD is 720 x 480. Channel 1806, WRGB, is 1920 x 1080. Channel 1810, WTEN, is 1280 x 720. Your display is the limiting factor for the 1080 HD channels, not the video itself.

The cable split does not change the resolution, buit it can add noise to the analog tier. The analog signals are channels 02-99 plus the copies of those channels in the digital tier.

Have fun with the CM 3016.

Solid Signal suggested I get the CM 3016 (30-45 mi reach). I can't believe how cheap they are.

I have the Channel Master 3016 mounted in my attic. Works great. However, I am only 8 miles from the digital tower (http://albanyhdtv.homestead.com/tower.html) in the Helderbergs.

You should enter your address at www.antennaweb.org (like Tower Guy suggests) to find the correct type of antenna for your location.

From antennaweb info, it states I am 12 to 20 miles depending on the channel. Not bad. The CM 3016 will be plenty.

Tower Guy thanks for the info. I have the newer sony model, kfd e50a10 - 720p.

Any good recommendations for a dvr w/hdmi? If I go antenna, I'll still need one of these puppies!

Discovery HD is the only thing holding me.

So say I have an antenna and want discovery hd, what options do I have. Going with dish plus the hd package w/ discovery? That seems to be about $37/month.

What other costs would there be? If I have an antenna, would I need a reciever from Dish or can I hook the satellite cable right into the TV? I'm a noob to this satellite/antenna stuff.

So say I have an antenna and want discovery hd, what options do I have. Going with dish plus the hd package w/ discovery? That seems to be about $37/month.

What other costs would there be? If I have an antenna, would I need a reciever from Dish or can I hook the satellite cable right into the TV? I'm a noob to this satellite/antenna stuff.

As Breakstuff suggested earlier, the DirecTV HD package is $10.99 per month. You can read about it at;

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/imagine/HDTV_package.jsp

I don't see anywhere that you must subscribe to a base package to be eligible for the HD programming. An external receiver will be needed for DirecTV. Your Sony has a built-in off air HD tuner, but so will the DirecTV receiver. You should use an HDMI cable from the receiver to the display.

If you decide to do DirecTV, note that they will be switching receivers from MPEG2 to MPEG4 beginning in a couple of months. You would want to be careful about spending too much money on a receiver that will be obsolete. The rumors say that the new receiver will have a built-in DVR. Waiting until WXXA is on the air and DirecTV has MPEG4 available would be my suggestion.

supposed to be penguins vs bruins on HDNET, but theres a concert. y are we being blackout?

Tonight I'm seeing severe pixelation and freezing on WRGB-HD OTA (6-1) on all three of my receivers. Looks like a weak signal, but my signal meters say I'm good (93-100% on two MyHD cards and well into the Good range on my LG DVR. Also, 6-2 and 6-3 are OK. I'd expect them to be bad if I had a weak signal. WRGB-HD looks fine on TW Cable. Anyone else seeing this?

Tonight I'm seeing severe pixelation and freezing on WRGB-HD OTA (6-1) on all three of my receivers. Looks like a weak signal, but my signal meters say I'm good (93-100% on two MyHD cards and well into the Good range on my LG DVR. Also, 6-2 and 6-3 are OK. I'd expect them to be bad if I had a weak signal. WRGB-HD looks fine on TW Cable. Anyone else seeing this?

Yes, I too am experiencing this.

Tonight I'm seeing severe pixelation and freezing on WRGB-HD OTA (6-1) on all three of my receivers. Looks like a weak signal, but my signal meters say I'm good (93-100% on two MyHD cards and well into the Good range on my LG DVR. Also, 6-2 and 6-3 are OK. I'd expect them to be bad if I had a weak signal. WRGB-HD looks fine on TW Cable. Anyone else seeing this?

Had been watching cable most of the evening and didn't see a problem. When I saw the post, called the Master Control operator who reported the picture was fine from their demod. Switched to OTA and noticed the same problem on my TV at home. Very unusual that cable was not also affected; it's the same transport stream. Re-booted the HD encoder during Craig Ferguson.

Had been watching cable most of the evening and didn't see a problem. When I saw the post, called the Master Control operator who reported the picture was fine from their demod. Switched to OTA and noticed the same problem on my TV at home. Very unusual that cable was not also affected; it's the same transport stream. Re-booted the HD encoder during Craig Ferguson.
I checked OTA after CF and it was OK. Thank you. BTW, I never watched the late night talk shows much before I got HD. Leno looked so good that I started watching it. But even HD can't make Conan worth watching, so I switched to CF. Love his monologues. Hope CBS makes his show HD soon. Or I could just turn the projector off and listen to it.

Has someone at WRGB been playing around with the encoder again? MyHD screencaps are being displayed at 1440x1080, same resolution after the new multiplexor was installed a few weeks ago.

http://kittyfingers.com/letterman.jpg

I called them today. The person answering the phone said they had had several complaints. She sent me on to engineering -- I left a message there re this ID, saying that I was getting a Plasma TV and would not be able to watch WMHT because of the burn-in problem. I see it is now gone!!! (I am SO POWERFUL!!) -- But the little bug remains in the corner. Why is this such a problem??

This is in response to the previous messages about the blatant sation ID on the WMHT Digital feed.

Craig

Nice work chenrikson -

Seems as if the WMHT|HD logo has returned to its original "less obtrusive" position of the lower right hand corner of the screen. Thanks WMHT!

chenrikson, maybe you could try calling WRGB and seeing if they could please restore the encoder to its previous settings, that would be great. :D

Don't worry BreakStuff... WRGB EngDept closely monitors this forum.

Don't worry BreakStuff... WRGB EngDept closely monitors this forum.
Looks like your right MasterFX1, looks much better t'nite. :)

http://kittyfingers.com/csi.jpg

FYI

HD MSG is now on Time Warner Cable Ch. 1847 :cool:

Hey guys? Whats the latest TWC HD DVR box out there in Albany? I've forgotten what model # they are up to. Is it worth the effort to upgrade from the original?
thanks,

Paul

Hey guys? Whats the latest TWC HD DVR box out there in Albany? I've forgotten what model # they are up to. Is it worth the effort to upgrade from the original?
thanks,

Paul


It's the SA8300HD which I've had for about a year now. It does give you a better picture, more recording space, and is pretty much bug free unlike some of the SA8000HD's that were out there for a while.....well worth trading in...with the only exception...you lose any favorite recordings you had.

I don't know if I'd agree with the "better picture" quality. I think it's a little less PQ than the 8000HD. And the Hard drive in the 8300 is most definitely louder. By several orders of magnitude. Sounds like a frickin' lawnmower.

Bug free?

How about the Daylight savings bugs many of us experienced where the unit didn't adjust the scheduled recordings and as a result none of the shows recorded?

Neither box is good, IMO, and TW sucks, but we're all pretty much at the mercy until Verizon FIOS comes with the Motorola HD DVR or Tivo comes out with their SA HD Tivo (which I'll believe when I see it).

The problem I reported back on 10/17/05 with WRGB-HD OTA appears to be back. To recap, 6-1 periodically pixelates and freezes. 6-2 and 6-3 are OK, as is WRGB-HD on cable. Last time it was fixed by rebooting the HD encoder.

I first noticed the problem Monday during CSI Miami. Figured I'd wait to see how long it took for WRGB to check their air return, but 2 days is enough. Although I recall that their demod didn't show the problem. They probably need to get a consumer-grade tuner; you just can't trust that broadcast-quality stuff.

m_jonis,

Have you seen any prices yet for the FIOS service - particulary HD service? Just curious....

No, but my advice is to switch from cable broadband to DSL for high-speed Internet service. Come to find out... DSL is better and it costs less too! :)

Have you seen any prices yet for the FIOS service - particulary HD service? Just curious....
Well, you could just look it up on the Verizon site. Oh, all right, I'll do your legwork for you, just this once. Here are the rates for FIOS TV, currently available only in Keller TX:
http://www22.verizon.com/FiosForHome/Channels/FiosTV/FiosTVpackage.aspx

And here are the rates for FIOS Internet service:
http://www22.verizon.com/FiOSforhome/channels/FiOS/root/package.aspx

That was easy.

I'm waivering on switching to TWC "all in one". As much as other members have a disdain for TWs inflated prices, is it worth the switch? I think the HD channels should be at no charge. How hard can I push? PM me if you wish.

FIOS, someday... :(

Anyone else getting bad breakups and pixelization on WRGB OTA?

If it's the type where the video breaks up and freezes, but audio is fine, and the problem is only occurring on 6-1, not 6-2 or 6-3... then yes.

It seems to be an issue with only certain OTA Receivers, but both of mine are experienceing it... badly. Never the less, this makes it much tougher for WRGB to track down.

Yes. I'm seeing the breakup on WRGB 6-1 also. First noticed it on 11/7 and reported it here on 11/10. Video breakup, little or no problem with audio. 6-2, 6-3 and WRGB-HD on cable are all OK. Seems a lot like the problem they had back around 10/17. Back then WRGB EngDept said he could see it on his receiver, but the MC operator at the station couldn't see it on his demod. It was fixed at the time by rebooting the HD encoder.

Here's a curiosity: if I record a segment to hard drive (using a MyHD MDP-130) the played back video is clean but the audio breaks up. Timeshifting gives the same result. Tried it capturing the whole stream and just 6-1; no difference. Ran both files through MPEG2Repair which found some errors, but I don't really know how to interpret the error logs, and samples from other stations had similar errors. One thing stuck out: it claimed a bit rate of 90 Mbps. That can't be right. The other OTA stations gave readings under 20.

Guess I won't be dropping my $12/mo. cable subscription any time soon.

Yes. I'm seeing the breakup on WRGB 6-1 also. First noticed it on 11/7 and reported it here on 11/10. Video breakup, little or no problem with audio. 6-2, 6-3 and WRGB-HD on cable are all OK... Seems a lot like the problem they had back around 10/17. Back then WRGB EngDept said he could see it on his receiver, but the MC operator at the station couldn't see it on his demod. It was fixed at the time by rebooting the HD encoder.

Rebooted HD encoder and multiplexer

Here's a curiosity: if I record a segment to hard drive.... One thing stuck out: it claimed a bit rate of 90 Mbps. That can't be right. The other OTA stations gave readings under 20.


Obviously can't be right, not really sure which device is putting that video bitrate descriptor in the stream. Will check it out.

Rebooted HD encoder and multiplexer
That did it. OK on my tuners (MyHD card and LG DVR), both live and recorded. Thank you.

(about 90 Mbps bit rate)
Obviously can't be right, not really sure which device is putting that video bitrate descriptor in the stream. Will check it out.
MPEG2Repair still reports that, but since it works now that's apparently not part of the problem. FWIW, on all the cable HD channels I tested it reported 80 Mbps.

I don't know if I'd agree with the "better picture" quality. I think it's a little less PQ than the 8000HD. And the Hard drive in the 8300 is most definitely louder. By several orders of magnitude. Sounds like a frickin' lawnmower.

Bug free?

How about the Daylight savings bugs many of us experienced where the unit didn't adjust the scheduled recordings and as a result none of the shows recorded?

Neither box is good, IMO, and TW sucks, but we're all pretty much at the mercy until Verizon FIOS comes with the Motorola HD DVR or Tivo comes out with their SA HD Tivo (which I'll believe when I see it).


Yes, the picture quality is better...I could tell on my ISF Calibrated 65" Mits.

I said pretty much bug free...especially compared to the 8000HD. I have a friend who is a tech at TW....at one point during the 8000HD rollout over a year ago...he was replacing them left and right....he said around 1 out of 5 was bad. He's not replacing many with the 83000HD.

Believe me...I'm going to kick Time Warner to the curb as soon as Verizon Fios becomes available. I've been paying out of my As@ for too long....but for right now it is what it is...you have to take what you can get.

Maybe something's wrong with my 8300HD. I've got a Mits ISF calibrated set and the PQ is noticeably "softer/granier" than the 8000 unit.

Either that or it just so happened to coincide with TW compressing of the HD channels further.

Anyone else notice their 8300 box rebooted twice in the last two weeks? I got a whole 1 minute of Lost (11/9/05) episode and noticed the unit was on channel 0001 when I turned it on (even though it's configured to go to the last channel on power on).

Then, it only got 27 minutes of Cold Case (11/13/05) and again, when powered on, it was on channel 0001.

Anyone know if December 1 is still likely/possible for WXXA-DT to begin transmission?

Skaggs (AKA AlbanyHDTV) gave us this report on the AlbanyHDTV.com forums six days ago...

"WXXA Chief Engineer Sarge Cathrall told me today that the transmitter is still in transit, expected next week.

Since next week is a short one due to Thanksgiving, and the following Thursday is December 1st, it seems WXXA will be hard pressed to meet their 12/1/05 "projected" startup date."

"their 12/1/05 "projected" startup date."

translation... early 2006

Maybe something's wrong with my 8300HD. I've got a Mits ISF calibrated set and the PQ is noticeably "softer/granier" than the 8000 unit.

Either that or it just so happened to coincide with TW compressing of the HD channels further.

Anyone else notice their 8300 box rebooted twice in the last two weeks? I got a whole 1 minute of Lost (11/9/05) episode and noticed the unit was on channel 0001 when I turned it on (even though it's configured to go to the last channel on power on).

Then, it only got 27 minutes of Cold Case (11/13/05) and again, when powered on, it was on channel 0001.

Yes, my 8300HD has been rebooted a couple of times also. Wonder if we had a software upgrade.

Why not try a CableCARD? You'll get a better picture and it costs less too! :)

Why not try a CableCARD? You'll get a better picture and it costs less too! :)


Yeah, but it doesn't record (and I'm not aware of any shipping HD DVR that can use a cable card).

:(

Looks like WRGB-HD has reverted to 1440x1080i again. There's a full description of symptoms and resolution in messages 1877-1882 (9/1&2/05), but briefly it screws up the picture on some receivers in Native mode. MyHD cards and LG LST3510A are affected, but Samsung SIR T151 and LG LST3410A are OK. Switching the MyHD cards to either 1920x1080i or 1280x720p corrects it.

Looks like WRGB-HD has reverted to 1440x1080i again. There's a full description of symptoms and resolution in messages 1877-1882 (9/1&2/05), but briefly it screws up the picture on some receivers in Native mode. MyHD cards and LG LST3510A are affected, but Samsung SIR T151 and LG LST3410A are OK. Switching the MyHD cards to either 1920x1080i or 1280x720p corrects it.

WRGB,

Please dont mess with the turkey day Dallas/Denver halftime show, I have recorded the past 2 years in HD and both recordings are spectacles. Mess up the rest of the game I dont care, Just leave me the halftime show. (Go Broncos!)

Yeah, but it doesn't record (and I'm not aware of any shipping HD DVR that can use a cable card).

:(True... our cable providers have a "lock" on that... even "optivity" had to cave and rent one of their STBs. :rolleyes:

This little Times Union article has caused a good deal of discussion on AlbanyHDTV.com, worth re-posting here...

Cable goes for package deals
Time Warner boosts rates for bundles of TV, phone, Internet services

By LARRY RULISON, Business writer
First published: Saturday, December 3, 2005

ROTTERDAM -- Capital Region cable subscribers next year will pay more for premium programming and for most service packages that bundle TV with Internet and telephone service. But Time Warner said rates will be unchanged for its most basic cable television offerings in the Capital Region.

"We've just chosen at this point to reflect the fact that we've increased the values of those packages," said Peter Taubkin, vice president of government relations and public affairs for Time Warner's Albany operations. "There are programming and service enhancements that have happened to those levels of services."

The enhancements include new high definition channels, several new free "on demand" channels, a new interactive access menu and Caller ID on TV, a caller ID service for customers who subscribe to both TV and phone.

Time Warner also is adding new channels next year, including Reality TV and Fox Business.

Time Warner's "All-n-One" package, which includes TV, phone and Internet, will go from $124.95 to $126.95 per month next year, a 1.6 percent increase. A premium package of TV and telephone will rise 3.6 percent.

Rates for premium channels like HBO also will increase. The first premium channel will rise nearly 18 percent to $12.95 a month, up from $11, and subsequent premium channels will cost $9, up from either $6 or $5, a 50 percent to 80 percent increase.

The DigiPic 1000 package that offers digital cable and sells for $55.95 and the "Watch & Surf" package that includes TV and Internet and sells for $95.95 per month won't increase.

And the rates for the All-n-One package that uses AOL Broadband will decrease from $129.90 to $126.95 per month.

Time Warner is not raising rates on Internet or phone services sold individually. And despite the fact that bundled service prices will rise in many cases, the company notes that customers will still save hundreds of dollars a year buying bundled Time Warner services instead of buying them individually from different providers such as the telephone company.

Time Warner serves 320,000 cable TV customers in the region, although sometime next year, it was assume about 28,000 additional TV subscribers in Glens Falls from Adelphia Communications Corp. Both Time Warner and Comcast Corp. have agreed to acquire Adelphia's assets as part of Adelphia's bankruptcy plan.

About 45 percent of TV subscribers pay for the digital service, which includes up to 200 TV channels.

Time Warner's rate increases come as other major cable TV companies also are raising their rates. Cablevision Systems Corp., which operates in the metro New York area, is raising TV rates an average of 2.3 percent, and Comcast is raising the rates on its basic analog cable service an average of 6 percent.

Adelphia, which currently serves the Glens Falls area, has not yet announced its rates for next year.

"We're in the process of reviewing those rates right now, and we expect to be notifying the local officials in Glens Falls in the very near future," Adelphia spokesman Paul Jacobson said.

Tell Time Warner that "we are mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore" and then switch to Verizon DSL for high-speed Internet service.

Come to find out... DSL is better and it costs less too!

Is anyone else also not receiving EPG data for WRGB? I am receiving all the Albany stations OTA and am getting program info for all except WRGB. I'm not sure if it's a problem with my STB.

Is anyone else also not receiving EPG data for WRGB? I am receiving all the Albany stations OTA and am getting program info for all except WRGB. I'm not sure if it's a problem with my STB.

programming info for WRGB all good on my end @ 9:50 pm.

Is WRGB at full strength? It seems to have a weaker signal then other stations from the same tower location. I'm new to the whole HD OTA thing.

Is WRGB at full strength? It seems to have a weaker signal then other stations from the same tower location. I'm new to the whole HD OTA thing.

looks full strength to me.. my results via MyHD;

WRGB-DT (UHF) 75%
WTEN-DT (UHF) 64%
WNYT-DT (VHF) 44%
WMHT-DT (UHF) 87%
WEWB-DT (UHF) 75%

My antenna is UHF.

Is WRGB at full strength? It seems to have a weaker signal then other stations from the same tower location. I'm new to the whole HD OTA thing.

We have been on a backup transmitter since early Sunday morning. It's about 1/4 of the power of the main transmitter. We hope to be at full power in a day or two.

We have been on a backup transmitter since early Sunday morning. It's about 1/4 of the power of the main transmitter. We hope to be at full power in a day or two.

Thanks! You saved me a trip to the roof...

TWC 1860 Universal HD.

Free for now, but apparently it'll cost $3.95/month (it's on the HD Tier). Although I really like Stargate, Battlestar Galactica and 4400, so I guess I'll have to fork it over.

At least until Verizon FIOS arrives.

Is the $3.95 per month an additional charge to what we already pay for the HD digital tier? :eek: Or is it included in the current package?

If Time Warner would permit Dolby Digital sound out using their CableCARD I'd buy HBO & Showtime HD too. ;)

What's this? No Dolby Digital if you have Cable Card?

I thought that had been resolved? (sorry, I have to go back and read the threads)

If not, I'd say a letter to the FCC is in order.

Albany Time Warner supports Dolby Digital sound output for a TVs optical interface w/CableCARD for HD-locals: 1806, 1808, 1810, 1811 and 1813 and disables optical digital sound out for HD channels 1827 - 1885.

I dropped all of their not-so-premium movie channels I use to subscribe to and RoadRunner because of Time Warner’s Conditional Access policies for CableCARDs. In the process I've reduced my cable TV bill from $160 to $75 per month. ;)

Optivity,

Do you visit the Albany HDTV website? I think that another user: dkennedy has gotten the DD to work with the other channels, but apparently it can be finicky?

Unless you have like an email or something from TW? (their stupid website doesn't state any caveats like this about CC) that maybe you could share with us?

I suppose I could email them too, but who knows what I'd get back.

I'm thinking about going CC as well, but with this news I may not.

I've gone the "whole nine yards" with TW, their CableCARD and the Conditional Access polices our CATV provider enforces. While its annoying to have digital sound output disabled by TWs head-end policies, the picture my TV renders with a CableCARD is worth a $1.75 per month.

I have a CableCARD in my Panasonic CRT RPTV and am sending Dolby Digital audio from the optical output of my TV just fine to my decoder on every channel; the local HD broadcast stations on cable, the HD tier, the HD premiums and the SD premiums.

Time Warner is obviously not disabling any CableCARD features or no one would have success, but it is apparent that certain hardware does not play nice when faced with encrypted digital channels. It would be interesting to hear what the behavior is with other brands/models/firmware revisions.

WXXA-DT has just started broadcasting. RF channel 7, remaps to 23-1.

WXXA-DT has just started broadcasting. RF channel 7, remaps to 23-1.

Great news!

THE CIRCLE IS NEARLY COMPLETE

At long last, the community tower now has all 6 signals transmitting. All that's really left for our market is for a TWC-WEWB (WB) agreement and for WNYA (UPN) to go HDTV both OTA and on TWC.

Of course, years from now there will be the wierdness of stations giving back a rf assignment to the FCC and some stations choosing to give back their current Digital location in favor of moving the digital signal to the current analog assignment. When this happens with a particular station we'll need to re-tune our receivers.

13-2 is now a weather loop (just like 10-2).

Editorial: How many weather loops does one market need?

Is WRGB back to HD full strength?

. . . years from now there will be the wierdness of stations giving back a rf assignment to the FCC and some stations choosing to give back their current Digital location in favor of moving the digital signal to the current analog assignment.Pardon a dumb question. We've all heard that one major goal of the shift to digital is to free up the analog bandwidth for resale or for emergency services. But right now the stations are using twice the bandwidth they were using, and in the end they will be using the same amount as before, maybe on a new channel, maybe on their old one, and it seems to be each station's choice. So where is this extra bandwidth to come from? Low VHF? No, because WXXA was originally supposed to be on ch. 4, and it has been suggested that WNYA might eventually go to HD on 4. High UHF (above 69)? I think those channels have been clear for awhile already. So what is the FCC planning to sell?

Pardon a dumb question. We've all heard that one major goal of the shift to digital is to free up the analog bandwidth for resale or for emergency services. But right now the stations are using twice the bandwidth they were using, and in the end they will be using the same amount as before, maybe on a new channel, maybe on their old one, and it seems to be each station's choice. So where is this extra bandwidth to come from? Low VHF? No, because WXXA was originally supposed to be on ch. 4, and it has been suggested that WNYA might eventually go to HD on 4. High UHF (above 69)? I think those channels have been clear for awhile already. So what is the FCC planning to sell?

Not a dumb question.

The FCC could not prematurely auction off available spectrum because it needed the frequencies for the analog to digital transition.

If the unused signals were sold before the "Transition" began, stations would have to end analog in order to go digital, cutting off analog viewers all at once. The current situation in which stations are broadcasting both analog and digital gives viewers a window of years to upgrade to digital sets or STB's. This would not be possible without giving stations two frequency assignments temporarily.

So the "Analog Give-back" essentially refers to the giving back the spare frequencies the FCC loaned them for the transition. After they have been given back, the FCC will auction them off to the highest bidder. Some of that spectrum will also be designated for Emergency/Security purposes.

Pardon a dumb question. We've all heard that one major goal of the shift to digital is to free up the analog bandwidth for resale or for emergency services. But right now the stations are using twice the bandwidth they were using, and in the end they will be using the same amount as before, maybe on a new channel, maybe on their old one, and it seems to be each station's choice. So where is this extra bandwidth to come from? Low VHF? No, because WXXA was originally supposed to be on ch. 4, and it has been suggested that WNYA might eventually go to HD on 4. High UHF (above 69)? I think those channels have been clear for awhile already. So what is the FCC planning to sell?

I think channel 52 and above.

Is WRGB back to HD full strength?

Yes, we have a few minor glitches but we are back at full power.